Brownfield Datacenter Sites

At a glance

GridCensus scores 771 brownfield datacenter candidate sites across the US — 0.5% of all 147,272 scored sites and the 8th-largest of 9 site types. They average 57.5/100 on the DC Readiness Score, the highest of 9 types (national average 53.0). California has the most, with 103.

Previously developed land with real or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfields trade remediation overhead for existing utility hookups, infill locations near fiber, and redevelopment incentives.

771

Candidate sites

57.5/100

Avg DC Readiness

37.7k MW

Catalogued capacity

theoretical aggregate

4.5 yrs

Avg queue wait

How do brownfield sites compare with other site types?

Brownfield sites are the 8th-largest of 9 site types by count and the highest of 9 by average DC Readiness. Their 57.5 average is above the 53.0 average across all 147,272 sites. The average interconnection-queue wait in their markets, 4.5 yrs, is the 7th-shortest of 9. The brownfield category is strongest on water, averaging 75.3 against a national average of 72.3; its weakest factor is hazard resilience, at 56.3 versus 66.8 nationally.

Where are brownfield datacenter sites located?

The five states with the most are California (103, 13%), New Jersey (52, 7%), New York (48, 6%), Massachusetts (44, 6%) and Iowa (38, 5%). Brownfield sites appear in 49 states. By grid region, PJM holds 20%, MISO holds 20% and CAISO holds 12%.

Brownfield sites by state

Average sub-score profile

Power availability

33.2

Speed-to-power

43.9

Fiber

70.8

Water

75.3

Hazard resilience

56.3

Top 25 brownfield datacenter sites

Top Brownfield datacenter sites
Site	Type	State	County	Former use	Voltage	Capacity	Queue wait	Score
UAMPS Carbon Free Power Plant	Brownfield	ID	Bonneville County	nuclear	46 kV	762 MW	5.0 yrs	72.4
Aegle Power	Brownfield	TX	Cameron County	gas	138 kV	1,282 MW	3.5 yrs	71.4
Charles Poletti	Brownfield	NY	New York	oil	138 kV	883 MW	4.3 yrs	71.2
TXU Sweetwater Generating Plant	Brownfield	TX	Nolan County	gas	—	344 MW	3.5 yrs	71.2
Sediver	Brownfield	SC	York County	gas	—	520 MW	3.9 yrs	70.6
Manchester Landfill	Brownfield	NH	Hillsborough	landfill	—	3 MW	4.3 yrs	70.2
Freeport Energy	Brownfield	TX	Brazoria County	gas	138 kV	776 MW	3.5 yrs	69.9
Bowline Point	Brownfield	NY	Rockland County	gas	—	750 MW	4.3 yrs	69.5
Copper Crossing Energy and Research Cent	Brownfield	AZ	Pinal County	gas	69 kV	1,779 MW	3.5 yrs	69.5
American Bottoms Solar Project	Brownfield	MO	St. Louis	power_plant	345 kV	2 MW	4.3 yrs	69.4
Music City Solar	Brownfield	TN	Davidson	landfill	—	2 MW	3.9 yrs	69.3
USARMY/NASA Redstone Arsenal	Brownfield	AL	Madison	superfund	—	10 MW	3.9 yrs	69.2
McKees Solar Park	Brownfield	DE	New Castle	landfill	—	0 MW	1.5 yrs	69.2
Warren AFB Wind	Brownfield	WY	Laramie	superfund	35 kV	3 MW	4.3 yrs	69.1
Thornton Heights Common	Brownfield	ME	Cumberland	brownfield	—	0 MW	4.3 yrs	68.7
DuPont Newport	Brownfield	DE	New Castle	superfund	—	1 MW	1.5 yrs	68.6
Hudson County Schools of Technology (GSHP)	Brownfield	NJ	Hudson	brownfield	345 kV	—	2.7 yrs	68.5
F J Gannon	Brownfield	FL	Hillsborough County	coal	—	635 MW	3.7 yrs	68.4
Kean University (GSHP)	Brownfield	NJ	Hudson	brownfield	—	—	2.7 yrs	68.2
Wanapum	Brownfield	WA	Grant County	hydro	500 kV	1,038 MW	3.5 yrs	68.2
DFW Gas Recovery	Brownfield	TX	Denton County	gas	14 kV	12 MW	3.5 yrs	68.2
Conners Creek	Brownfield	MI	Wayne County	gas	—	275 MW	2.2 yrs	68.1
Hazelwood Green’s Mill 19 Solar	Brownfield	PA	Allegheny	brownfield	—	2 MW	3.6 yrs	68.1
Chevron Casper Wind Farm	Brownfield	WY	Natrona	rcra	115 kV	17 MW	3.5 yrs	68.0
Brooklyn Landfill Solar	Brownfield	OH	Cuyahoga	landfill	345 kV	4 MW	5.2 yrs	68.0

What do the top-scoring brownfield sites have in common?

The top 25 brownfield sites score between 68.0 and 72.4. 4 are in Texas, 2 are in New York and 2 are in Delaware. Of the top 25 brownfield sites, 12 have a recorded nearest-substation voltage, with a median of 138 kV; for 4 that substation is rated 230 kV or higher. Their counties have a median of 12 fixed fiber broadband providers in FCC data. The median distance to the nearest internet exchange facility is 6 km. The median interconnection-queue wait in their markets is 3.6 years. 1 of the 23 with a mapped FEMA flood zone sits in a high-risk (A or V) zone.

Brownfield site FAQ

What is a brownfield datacenter site?

How many brownfield datacenter sites are there?

GridCensus catalogs 771 brownfield candidate sites nationwide, averaging 57.5/100 DC Readiness — 0.5% of all scored sites.

Which state has the most brownfield datacenter sites?

California leads with 103 brownfield candidate sites, followed by New Jersey with 52.

What is the highest-scoring brownfield datacenter site?

UAMPS Carbon Free Power Plant in Bonneville County, Idaho has the highest DC Readiness Score of any brownfield site, at 72.4/100.

How long is the interconnection queue for brownfield sites?

Brownfield candidate sites sit in markets with an average interconnection-queue wait of 4.5 yrs, the 7th-shortest of 9 site types.

Other datacenter site types

By grid region

Dataset updated November 2026. Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

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, “Brownfield datacenter candidate sites”, https://gridcensus.com/site-types/brownfield (data as of November 12, 2026).

Go deeper than the public screen

Every site and score for Brownfield sites 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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