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Datacenter Sites in Pope County, Minnesota

Pope County has 21 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.9/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 700 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively Moderate". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

Pope County, Minnesota has 21 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.9/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the Minnesota average of 56.0. It ranks 43rd of 85 Minnesota counties by number of sites and 72nd by average score. The top-scoring site is Substation-Adjacent site · 6ac4a781 at 55.8/100.

21
Candidate sites
53.9/100
Avg DC Readiness
700 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively Moderate
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 21 in Pope County

Site-selection context for Pope County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
12.36¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
9.70¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
6
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$5,298
Land price / acre
600
Cooling degree days
7,700
Heating degree days
42°F
Mean annual temp

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

How does Pope County compare with other counties in Minnesota?

By number of scored sites, Pope County ranks 43rd of the 85 Minnesota counties with a county page, holding 0.7% of the state's 3,216 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 53.9/100 ranks 72nd in the state and is roughly in line with the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 1665th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 14 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Pope County?

Substation-Adjacent sites are the most common (14, 67% of the county's inventory), followed by former mine (7). 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 Pope County?

Industrial electricity averages 9.70¢/kWh and commercial 12.36¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively Moderate" (25). WRI water stress is low. 6 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 600 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 42°F. Land is valued around $5,298 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Pope County

Top datacenter sites in Pope County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
UNKNOWN158288Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.8
UNKNOWN129814Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.7
UNKNOWN129835Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.7
UNKNOWN156328Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.6
TAP162602Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.6
UNKNOWN162601Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.6
UNKNOWN158061Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.5
UNKNOWN162606Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.5
UNKNOWN157197Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.3
UNKNOWN158066Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.3
UNKNOWN162599Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.0
TAP162608Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.0
TAP162595Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.0
UNKNOWN157199Substation-Adjacent69 kV50 MW4.3 yrs55.0
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.8
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.7
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.7
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.6
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.1
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs51.0
Mine SiteFormer Mine——4.3 yrs47.7

Every scored site in Pope County

All 21 sites, best first.

Pope County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Pope County?

21 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 53.9/100 DC Readiness. That is the 43rd-most of 85 Minnesota counties with five or more sites.

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

Substation-Adjacent site · 6ac4a781 scores 55.8/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 21 scored sites in Pope County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does Pope County offer datacenter tax incentives?

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

What is the natural-hazard risk in Pope County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Pope County as "Relatively Moderate" (score 25).

What are industrial electricity rates in Pope County?

Average industrial electricity is 9.70¢/kWh and commercial is 12.36¢/kWh in Pope County.

More in Minnesota

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 Pope County, Minnesota”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/minnesota/pope-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 Pope County, Minnesota 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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