Datacenter Sites in Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County has 28 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 59.9/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 675 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.
At a glance
Orange County, North Carolina has 28 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 59.9/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the North Carolina average of 55.1. It ranks 30th of 88 North Carolina counties by number of sites and 3rd by average score. The top-scoring site is Substation-Adjacent site · af350458 at 65.4/100.
Site-selection context for Orange County
Incentive detail: Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for $75M+ investments; property tax abatement.
How does Orange County compare with other counties in North Carolina?
By number of scored sites, Orange County ranks 30th of the 88 North Carolina counties with a county page, holding 1.0% of the state's 2,778 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 59.9/100 ranks 3rd in the state and is about 13% above the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 1344th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 27 score 55 or higher.
What types of datacenter sites are in Orange County?
Greenfield sites are the most common (17, 61% of the county's inventory), followed by substation-adjacent (8) and brownfield (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 Orange County?
Industrial electricity averages 8.41¢/kWh and commercial 11.86¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (42). WRI water stress is low. 8 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 $8,742 an acre.
By site type
Top datacenter sites in Orange County
| Site | Type | Voltage | Capacity | Queue wait | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN115116 | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 5.3 yrs | 65.4 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 64.8 |
| Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Brownfield | — | 24 MW | 5.3 yrs | 63.3 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 62.9 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 62.6 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 61.9 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 61.4 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 61.2 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 60.9 |
| UNC-CH LFG Facility | Brownfield | — | 1 MW | 5.3 yrs | 60.8 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 60.5 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 60.4 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 60.4 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 60.1 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 59.7 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 59.6 |
| UNKNOWN115128 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 59.5 |
| UNKNOWN115118 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 59.5 |
| TAP147456 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 59.1 |
| TAP147455 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 59.0 |
| EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 58.5 |
| UNKNOWN169698 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 58.2 |
| UNKNOWN114762 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 57.8 |
| UNKNOWN114761 | Substation-Adjacent | 100 kV | 50 MW | 5.3 yrs | 57.5 |
| EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility | Greenfield | — | — | 5.3 yrs | 57.2 |
Every scored site in Orange County
All 28 sites, best first.
- Substation-Adjacent site · af350458 · 65.4
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 244501f2 · 64.8
- Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 63.3
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · 600b12e9 · 62.9
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · ce0745ec · 62.6
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · d7540d6f · 61.9
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · 7ed82379 · 61.4
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · bc3ab3c5 · 61.2
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · b72cc09c · 60.9
- UNC-CH LFG Facility · 60.8
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 3eb708e1 · 60.5
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · a72a2fe2 · 60.4
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · 5d63dc17 · 60.4
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · f92d353d · 60.1
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · cba2c823 · 59.7
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 71faebf8 · 59.6
- Substation-Adjacent site · 7c3034af · 59.5
- Substation-Adjacent site · 6228b07e · 59.5
- Substation-Adjacent site · 18911e20 · 59.1
- Substation-Adjacent site · bd4677fb · 59.0
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · 55b9c9ef · 58.5
- Substation-Adjacent site · 3db55901 · 58.2
- Substation-Adjacent site · a5b25322 · 57.8
- Substation-Adjacent site · 8c78de7f · 57.5
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 9fde1d88 · 57.2
- EC Near UNC-CH LFG Facility · ac4f2bdd · 56.4
- EC Near Univ of NC Chapel Hill Cogen Facility · 1d36f398 · 55.2
- Summit Springs · 54.5
Orange County datacenter FAQ
How many datacenter sites are in Orange County?
28 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 59.9/100 DC Readiness. That is the 30th-most of 88 North Carolina counties with five or more sites.
What is the highest-scoring datacenter site in Orange County?
Substation-Adjacent site · af350458 scores 65.4/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 28 scored sites in Orange County (a substation-adjacent site).
Does Orange 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 Orange County?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Orange County as "Relatively High" (score 42).
What are industrial electricity rates in Orange County?
Average industrial electricity is 8.41¢/kWh and commercial is 11.86¢/kWh in Orange County.
More in North Carolina
- All datacenter sites in North Carolina· 2,778 sites
- Operating datacenters in North Carolina
- Electric substations in North Carolina
- Cumberland County· 264 sites · avg 52.4
- Durham County· 122 sites · avg 58.6
- Mecklenburg County· 109 sites · avg 60.0
- Guilford County· 86 sites · avg 53.8
- Wake County· 81 sites · avg 63.9
- Lee County· 76 sites · avg 52.3
- Greenfield sites in North Carolina
- Substation-Adjacent sites 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 Orange County, North Carolina”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/north-carolina/orange-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 Orange 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.