Federal Excess Datacenter Sites in California
At a glance
Surplus federal property released for civilian reuse. Federal excess parcels can carry existing infrastructure and favorable disposition terms, but acquisition timelines vary with the disposing agency.
Top federal excess sites in California
| Site | Type | County | Voltage | Capacity | Queue wait | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | Federal Excess | San Mateo County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 49.2 |
| Palo Alto HCS Menlo Park Div. | Federal Excess | San Mateo County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 49.1 |
| Alameda Point National Cemetery | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 48.7 |
| San Francisco VA Medical Center | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 48.7 |
| Forest | Federal Excess | San Francisco County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 48.4 |
| Native Plan | Federal Excess | San Francisco County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 48.4 |
| WESTERN REGIONAL RESEARCH CTR | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.9 |
| VA Palo Alto HCS-VAMC Palo Alto, CA DIv. | Federal Excess | Santa Clara County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.9 |
| FREMONT | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.9 |
| VA Palo Alto HCS-VAMC Palo Alto, CA DIv. | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.9 |
| TREASURE ISLAND | Federal Excess | San Francisco County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.9 |
| Golden Gate National Cemetery | Federal Excess | San Mateo County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.8 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Federal Excess | Alameda County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.7 |
| Golf Course | Federal Excess | San Francisco County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.6 |
| Sacramento VA Medical Center at Mather | Federal Excess | Sacramento County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.6 |
| Land Improvement | Federal Excess | San Francisco County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.6 |
| SANTA ANA JOHN WAYNE ARPT | Federal Excess | Orange County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.5 |
| SAN JOSE INTL AIRPORT MOA | Federal Excess | Santa Clara County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.5 |
| West Los Angeles VA Medical Center | Federal Excess | Los Angeles County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.4 |
| VA Palo Alto HCS-VAMC Palo Alto, CA DIv. | Federal Excess | Santa Clara County | — | — | 7.6 yrs | 47.4 |
How does California compare with other states for federal excess sites?
With 3,212 sites, California ranks 2nd of the 35 states that have any federal excess candidate sites. Washington leads with 3,676. Nationally, federal excess sites average 47.5/100 DC Readiness, below the 53.0 average across all site types. Across every site type, California averages 45.4, the 52nd-highest of 52 states, and its candidate sites face an average interconnection-queue wait of 7.6 years.
Where are the highest-scoring federal excess sites in California?
The top 25 range from 49.2 to 47.4 on the 0–100 DC Readiness Score. They are concentrated in Alameda County (11), San Francisco County (5), San Mateo County (3) and Santa Clara County (3). By grid region, 24 are in CAISO and 1 is in WECC.
County pages: Alameda County · San Francisco County · San Mateo County · Santa Clara County
What power, fiber and flood exposure do these federal excess sites have?
Their counties have a median of 12 fixed fiber broadband providers in FCC data. The median distance to the nearest internet exchange facility is 5 km. The median interconnection-queue wait in their markets is 7.6 years. None of the 5 with a mapped FEMA flood zone sits in a high-risk (A or V) zone. 7 lie within 25 km of a binding transmission constraint.
Frequently asked questions
How many federal excess datacenter sites are in California?
GridCensus catalogs 3,212 federal excess datacenter candidate sites in California, 18% of the national total for this type (2nd of 35 states).
What is a federal excess datacenter site?
Surplus federal property released for civilian reuse. Federal excess parcels can carry existing infrastructure and favorable disposition terms, but acquisition timelines vary with the disposing agency.
What is the best federal excess datacenter site in California?
By DC Readiness Score, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in San Mateo County ranks first at 49.2/100, followed by Palo Alto HCS Menlo Park Div. in San Mateo County at 49.1.
Which California counties have the best federal excess sites?
The top 25 federal excess sites in California are concentrated in Alameda County (11), San Francisco County (5), San Mateo County (3) and Santa Clara County (3).
How does California score for datacenters overall?
All 8,490 scored sites in California average 45.4/100 DC Readiness, the 52nd-highest of 52 states, against a national average of 53.0.
More on federal excess sites and California
- All datacenter sites in California· 8,490 sites
- Federal Excess datacenter sites nationwide· 17,528 sites
- Industrial sites in California· 2,201 sites
- Substation-Adjacent sites in California· 1,573 sites
- Greenfield sites in California· 941 sites
- Former Mine sites in California· 451 sites
- Brownfield sites in California· 103 sites
- Military BRAC sites in California· 9 sites
Federal Excess sites in other states
- Federal Excess sites in Washington· 3,676 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Arizona· 1,616 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Nebraska· 1,057 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Oklahoma· 991 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Utah· 930 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Idaho· 922 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Colorado· 911 sites
- Federal Excess sites in Wyoming· 750 sites
Dataset updated . 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 13, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Federal Excess datacenter sites in California”, https://gridcensus.com/site-types/federal-excess/california (data as of November 13, 2026).
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for Federal Excess sites in California 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.