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Datacenter Sites in Winnebago County, Illinois

Winnebago County has 193 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 51.1/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 4,968 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

Winnebago County, Illinois has 193 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 51.1/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the Illinois average of 53.6. It ranks 2nd of 101 Illinois counties by number of sites and 96th by average score. The top-scoring site is Rockford Community Solar at 62.1/100.

193
Candidate sites
51.1/100
Avg DC Readiness
4,968 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively High
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in Winnebago County

Site-selection context for Winnebago County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
9.30¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
6.11¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
16
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$8,082
Land price / acre
1,100
Cooling degree days
5,600
Heating degree days
52°F
Mean annual temp

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

How does Winnebago County compare with other counties in Illinois?

By number of scored sites, Winnebago County ranks 2nd of the 101 Illinois counties with a county page, holding 5.3% of the state's 3,641 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 51.1/100 ranks 96th in the state and is roughly in line with the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 115th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 24 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Winnebago County?

Industrial sites are the most common (147, 76% of the county's inventory), followed by substation-adjacent (17) and greenfield (11). Site type reflects how the parcel was identified — next to a substation, on a former mine or brownfield, on industrial or federal excess land — and is scored on the same 14 factors either way.

What are power cost, hazard, water and fiber conditions in Winnebago County?

Industrial electricity averages 6.11¢/kWh and commercial 9.30¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (35). WRI water stress is low. 16 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 1,100 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 52°F. Land is valued around $8,082 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Winnebago County

Top datacenter sites in Winnebago County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
Rockford Community SolarBrownfield—3 MW4.8 yrs62.1
TAP137909Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs62.1
UNKNOWN124165Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs61.8
TAP136942Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs61.7
WEMPLETOWNSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs61.3
Orchard Hills Renewable Energy StationBrownfield—16 MW4.8 yrs59.7
OZ WinnebagoGreenfield——4.8 yrs59.5
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs59.4
OZ WinnebagoGreenfield——4.8 yrs59.4
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs59.2
SabrookeBrownfield—150 MW4.8 yrs58.3
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs57.8
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs57.3
UNKNOWN157548Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs57.0
TAP155879Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs56.8
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs56.7
UNKNOWN124166Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs56.6
UNKNOWN121942Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs56.5
TAP137867Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs56.5
UNKNOWN121945Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs56.4
EC Near SabrookeGreenfield——4.8 yrs56.3
UNKNOWN121939Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs55.9
UNKNOWN121941Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs55.6
Greenfield (WEMPLETOWN - TAP137909)Greenfield345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs55.3
UNKNOWN124270Substation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW4.8 yrs54.3

Every scored site in Winnebago County

All 193 sites, best first.

Winnebago County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Winnebago County?

193 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 51.1/100 DC Readiness. That is the 2nd-most of 101 Illinois counties with five or more sites.

What is the highest-scoring datacenter site in Winnebago County?

Rockford Community Solar scores 62.1/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 193 scored sites in Winnebago County (a brownfield site).

Does Winnebago County offer datacenter tax incentives?

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

What is the natural-hazard risk in Winnebago County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Winnebago County as "Relatively High" (score 35).

What are industrial electricity rates in Winnebago County?

Average industrial electricity is 6.11¢/kWh and commercial is 9.30¢/kWh in Winnebago County.

More in Illinois

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 November 12, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.

Cite as: GridCensus, “Datacenter candidate sites in Winnebago County, Illinois”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/illinois/winnebago-county (data as of November 12, 2026).

Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Go deeper than the public screen

Every site and score for Winnebago County, Illinois 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.

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