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Gridcensus

EC Near Wells IC

Greenfield

Faribault County, Minnesota · MISO

DC Readiness
54.9
Fair / 100

At a glance

EC Near Wells IC is a greenfield datacenter candidate site in Faribault County, Minnesota, scoring 54.9/100 DC Readiness — 26th of 32 scored sites in the county. It sits in the MISO grid region and the BENCO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE service territory, where interconnection has averaged 4.3 years from request to operation.

Power & interconnection

LMP zoneMISO_MINN
Wholesale LMP$34.82/MWh
Utility commercial rate0.12¢/kWh
UtilityBENCO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVEcooperativemoderate to large load · state default

Speed to power

Interconnection outlookModerate
≈ 4.9 yrs typical interconnection wait

Middle-of-the-pack interconnection conditions for this grid.

ISO / RTO regionMISO
Queue depth127
Avg queue wait4.3 yrs
Recent queue wait4.9 yrs
Completion rate18%
Withdrawal rate82%

Connectivity

Nearest IXPSFN MN-Albert Lea
IXP distance21.6 mi
Fiber providers5
Fiber coverage94.8%
Nearest cloud providerAzure
Nearest cloud regioncentralus
Cloud region distance129.7 mi

Site characteristics

Site typeGreenfield
Land contactFaribault County Assessor
Land owner typeprivate
Buildability5.0/100
Land cover (NLCD)Water
Former usenear retired oil plant (10km)

Risk & environment

Environmental constraintLow (15/100)
Flood zoneZone X
Water stress (WRI)0.40
Wetlands (NWI)Present
Critical habitatClear
Superfund nearbyClear
Hazard sub-score65/100
Construction cost index109.6 (avg 100)

Location context

Nearest datacenterSFN MN-Albert Lea
DC distance21.6 mi
Nearest rail5.8 mi
Nearest gas pipeline6.4 mi
Nearest fiber route21.2 mi
County hazard (FEMA NRI)Relatively Moderate (25)
DC tax incentiveYes (sales_tax_exemption)
Commercial electricity12.45¢/kWh
Industrial electricity9.11¢/kWh
Cooling degree days600
Heating degree days7,700
Land price / acre$8,169

Regulatory climate

Moderatestate posture · as of 2026-08

Incentives available; large-load tariffs emerging.

DC tax incentiveYes
Large-load threshold≥ 50 MW

Incentive detail: Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for qualified DCs.

Site location

◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
This site + 8 nearby

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How does EC Near Wells IC compare with other sites in Faribault County?

EC Near Wells IC ranks 26th of 32 scored candidate sites in Faribault County. Its 54.9/100 is roughly in line with the county average of 58.3. It is roughly in line with the Minnesota average of 55.7 and roughly in line with the national average of 53.2.

Against the Minnesota average, its strongest sub-score is fiber connectivity (72 vs 70) and its weakest is power availability (30 vs 39). Power and speed to power each carry 20% of the composite score, fiber 12%, water 7% and hazard 6%.

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

The nearest located transmission bottleneck is West_Memphis_AT1_161_500kV_flo_Sans_Souci_Driver (MISO), 37 miles away. For connectivity, the nearest internet exchange facility is SFN MN-Albert Lea at 21.6 miles. 5 fiber providers report service at the location in FCC broadband data. The closest operating datacenter on record is SFN MN-Albert Lea, 21.6 miles away.

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

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 0.40 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 Faribault County "Relatively Moderate".

Full DC Readiness breakdown

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

Power availability20%
30
Speed to power20%
48
Fiber connectivity12%
72
Energy cost10%
86
Water risk7%
92
Natural hazard6%
65
Buildability7%
5
Labor market4%
50
DC cluster4%
65
Land / acreage3%
45
Construction cost3%
59
Gas pipeline2%
79
Tax incentive1%
100
Climate / cooling1%
95

Nearby comparable sites

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

Sites near EC Near Wells IC
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs63.0
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs62.5
OZ FaribaultGreenfield——4.3 yrs61.5
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs61.4
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs61.4
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs61.2
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs60.9
EC Near Wells ICGreenfield——4.3 yrs60.9

EC Near Wells IC: common questions

What is the DC Readiness score of EC Near Wells IC?

EC Near Wells IC scores 54.9/100 on the GridCensus DC Readiness scale, rated fair. It ranks 26th of 32 scored sites in Faribault County. The Faribault County average is 58.3 and the Minnesota average is 55.7.

Which electric utility serves EC Near Wells IC?

BENCO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE (cooperative) holds the retail service territory that contains the site.

What grid region is EC Near Wells IC in?

EC Near Wells IC is in the MISO region. Projects interconnecting there have averaged a 4.3-year wait from queue request to operation.

Is EC Near Wells IC 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 Wells IC?

Parcel records list the owner as NORTHERN STATES POWER CO - MINNESOTA (private land).

How far is EC Near Wells IC from an internet exchange?

The nearest internet exchange facility is SFN MN-Albert Lea, about 21.6 miles away; 5 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 Wells IC, Faribault County, MN”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/minnesota/faribault-county/ec-near-wells-ic-4d17db0e (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 Wells IC, Faribault County 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.