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Datacenter Sites in McDowell County, North Carolina

McDowell County has 26 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.4/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 850 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

McDowell County, North Carolina has 26 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.4/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the North Carolina average of 55.1. It ranks 34th of 88 North Carolina counties by number of sites and 68th by average score. The top-scoring site is MCDOWELL at 61.4/100.

26
Candidate sites
53.4/100
Avg DC Readiness
850 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively High
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in McDowell County

Site-selection context for McDowell County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
11.48¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
7.97¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
6
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$7,524
Land price / acre
1,600
Cooling degree days
3,300
Heating degree days
59°F
Mean annual temp

Incentive detail: Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for $75M+ investments; property tax abatement.

How does McDowell County compare with other counties in North Carolina?

By number of scored sites, McDowell County ranks 34th of the 88 North Carolina counties with a county page, holding 0.9% of the state's 2,778 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 53.4/100 ranks 68th in the state and is roughly in line with the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 1422nd-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 13 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in McDowell County?

Substation-Adjacent sites are the most common (12, 46% of the county's inventory), followed by former mine (11) and industrial (2). 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 McDowell County?

Industrial electricity averages 7.97¢/kWh and commercial 11.48¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (42). WRI water stress is low. 6 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 1,600 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 59°F. Land is valued around $7,524 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in McDowell County

Top datacenter sites in McDowell County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
MCDOWELLSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs61.4
OZ McDowellGreenfield——5.3 yrs57.1
UNKNOWN169810Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs56.1
UNKNOWN110516Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.7
UNKNOWN154903Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.6
UNKNOWN110511Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.6
UNKNOWN110521Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.5
UNKNOWN110518Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.5
TAP154885Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.5
UNKNOWN110515Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.4
UNKNOWN110512Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.3
UNKNOWN169802Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.3
UNKNOWN110514Substation-Adjacent100 kV50 MW5.3 yrs55.2
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs51.2
Drexel Mill / Drexel Heritage FurnitureIndustrial——5.3 yrs51.0
Peavine Rail LineIndustrial——5.3 yrs50.9
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.8
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.8
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.8
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.7
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.7
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.7
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.6
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.5
Mine SiteFormer Mine——5.3 yrs50.5

Every scored site in McDowell County

All 26 sites, best first.

McDowell County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in McDowell County?

26 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 53.4/100 DC Readiness. That is the 34th-most of 88 North Carolina counties with five or more sites.

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

MCDOWELL scores 61.4/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 26 scored sites in McDowell County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does McDowell County offer datacenter tax incentives?

Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for $75M+ investments; property tax abatement.

What is the natural-hazard risk in McDowell County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates McDowell County as "Relatively High" (score 42).

What are industrial electricity rates in McDowell County?

Average industrial electricity is 7.97¢/kWh and commercial is 11.48¢/kWh in McDowell County.

More in North Carolina

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 McDowell County, North Carolina”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/north-carolina/mcdowell-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 McDowell County, North Carolina 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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