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Gridcensus

EC Near Waukegan

Greenfield

Lake, Illinois · PJM

DC Readiness
52.3
Fair / 100

At a glance

EC Near Waukegan is a greenfield datacenter candidate site in Lake, Illinois, scoring 52.3/100 DC Readiness — 66th of 89 scored sites in the county. It sits in the PJM grid region, where interconnection has averaged 4.8 years from request to operation.

Power & interconnection

LMP zonePJM_COMED
Wholesale LMP$33.95/MWh
Utility commercial rate0.09¢/kWh

Speed to power

Interconnection outlookConstrained
≈ 6.1 yrs typical interconnection wait

Deep queue and long historical waits — plan for a multi-year interconnection timeline and engage the utility early.

ISO / RTO regionPJM
Queue depth393
Avg queue wait4.8 yrs
Recent queue wait6.1 yrs
Completion rate21%
Withdrawal rate79%

Connectivity

Nearest IXPNETRIX - BBN
IXP distance14.2 mi
Fiber providers11
Fiber coverage18.8%
Nearest cloud providerAzure
Nearest cloud regionnorthcentralus
Cloud region distance35.5 mi

Site characteristics

Site typeGreenfield
Land contactLake County Assessor
Land owner typeprivate
Buildability5.0/100
Land cover (NLCD)Water
Former usenear retired coal plant (5km)

Risk & environment

Environmental constraintLow (15/100)
Flood zoneZone X
Water stress (WRI)0.60
Wetlands (NWI)Present
Critical habitatClear
Superfund nearbyClear
Hazard sub-score55/100
Construction cost index112.1 (avg 100)

Location context

Nearest datacenterNETRIX - BBN
DC distance14.2 mi
Nearest rail3.5 mi
Nearest gas pipeline4.5 mi
Nearest fiber route31.8 mi
County hazard (FEMA NRI)Relatively High (35)
DC tax incentiveYes (sales_tax_exemption)
Commercial electricity8.86¢/kWh
Industrial electricity5.29¢/kWh
Cooling degree days1,100
Heating degree days5,600
Land price / acre$15,913

Regulatory climate

Restrictivestate posture · as of 2026-08

New-DC state tax exemptions suspended for 2 years (from Jul 2026).

DC tax incentiveNo / suspended

Incentive detail: Enterprise Zone sales tax exemption; High Impact Business designation for $12M+ DC investments.

Site location

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≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
This site + 8 nearby

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How does EC Near Waukegan compare with other sites in Lake?

EC Near Waukegan ranks 66th of 89 scored candidate sites in Lake. Its 52.3/100 is roughly in line with the county average of 56.2. It is roughly in line with the Illinois average of 54.3 and roughly in line with the national average of 53.2.

Against the Illinois average, its strongest sub-score is water (88 vs 87) and its weakest is fiber connectivity (50 vs 71). Power and speed to power each carry 20% of the composite score, fiber 12%, water 7% and hazard 6%.

How close is EC Near Waukegan to power, fiber and other datacenters?

The nearest located transmission bottleneck is NILES-EVERGFE B 138 KV (PJM), 25 miles away. For connectivity, the nearest internet exchange facility is NETRIX - BBN at 14.2 miles. 11 fiber providers report service at the location in FCC broadband data. The closest operating datacenter on record is NETRIX - BBN, 14.2 miles away.

What are the flood, water and hazard risks at EC Near Waukegan?

The site is in FEMA flood zone X, outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (minimal or moderate flood risk). WRI rates baseline water stress at 0.60 on a 0–5 scale. Mapped wetlands (National Wetlands Inventory) are present on the parcel. At the county level, FEMA's National Risk Index rates Lake "Relatively High".

Full DC Readiness breakdown

All 13 weighted sub-scores (0–100) behind the composite DC Readiness score.

Power availability20%
30
Speed to power20%
47
Fiber connectivity12%
50
Energy cost10%
93
Water risk7%
88
Natural hazard6%
55
Buildability7%
5
Labor market4%
50
DC cluster4%
90
Land / acreage3%
40
Construction cost3%
57
Gas pipeline2%
85
Tax incentive1%
100
Climate / cooling1%
70

Nearby comparable sites

Other scored datacenter candidate sites in Lake, ranked by DC Readiness.

Sites near EC Near Waukegan
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
UNKNOWN133790Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs68.6
COMMONWEALTH EDISON DES PLAINES (345KV)Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs66.2
PROSPECT HEIGHTSSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs66.1
TAP137894Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs65.8
BloomBrownfield345 kV152 MW4.8 yrs65.2
GOLF MILLSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs65.0
NORTHBROOKSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs64.8
LIBERTYVILLESubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs64.7

EC Near Waukegan: common questions

What is the DC Readiness score of EC Near Waukegan?

EC Near Waukegan scores 52.3/100 on the GridCensus DC Readiness scale, rated fair. It ranks 66th of 89 scored sites in Lake. The Lake average is 56.2 and the Illinois average is 54.3.

What grid region is EC Near Waukegan in?

EC Near Waukegan is in the PJM region. Projects interconnecting there have averaged a 4.8-year wait from queue request to operation.

Is EC Near Waukegan in a flood zone?

The site is in FEMA flood zone X, outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (minimal or moderate flood risk).

Who owns EC Near Waukegan?

Parcel records list the owner as COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO (private land).

How far is EC Near Waukegan from an internet exchange?

The nearest internet exchange facility is NETRIX - BBN, about 14.2 miles away; 11 fiber providers report service at the location.

Related pages

About this data

Source: GridCensus composite of HIFLD transmission and substation data, EIA, FEMA National Risk Index, FCC broadband data, PeeringDB and ISO interconnection queues, as published October 10, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.

Cite as: GridCensus, “EC Near Waukegan, Lake, IL”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/illinois/lake/ec-near-waukegan-f6cf8cee (data as of October 10, 2026).

Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Figures are screening estimates derived from public infrastructure data. Catalogued capacity reflects theoretical candidate capacity, not deliverable or committed interconnection. Confirm all values with the utility, ISO, and on-the-ground due diligence.

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Every site and score for EC Near Waukegan, Lake is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.