Shovel-Ready Datacenter Sites
At a glance
Pre-permitted, pre-graded sites marketed for rapid development. Shovel-ready designation compresses entitlement risk, making these among the fastest paths from acquisition to vertical construction.
How do shovel-ready sites compare with other site types?
Shovel-Ready sites are the 7th-largest of 9 site types by count and the 5th-highest of 9 by average DC Readiness. Their 52.3 average is below the 53.0 average across all 147,272 sites. The average interconnection-queue wait in their markets, 4.9 yrs, is the 8th-shortest of 9. The shovel-ready category is strongest on water, averaging 89.1 against a national average of 72.3; its weakest factor is power availability, at 29.9 versus 37.4 nationally.
Where are shovel-ready datacenter sites located?
The five states with the most are Virginia (1,752, 74%), Kentucky (367, 16%), Wisconsin (169, 7%), Tennessee (45, 2%) and Minnesota (21, 1%). Shovel-Ready sites appear in 6 states. By grid region, PJM holds 80%, MISO holds 10% and SERC holds 10%.
Average sub-score profile
Top 25 shovel-ready datacenter sites
| Site | Type | State | County | Voltage | Capacity | Queue wait | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Industrial Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Logan | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 59.4 |
| Camp Property | Shovel-Ready | KY | Logan | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 59.2 |
| Shelton Lane Industrial Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Logan | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 59.1 |
| W.T. Young Property -- Lexington Site 067-030 | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.8 |
| Belknap Engineering and Applied Sciences Research Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Jefferson | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.8 |
| Alexandria Business Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.8 |
| Hopkinsville Industrial Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Christian | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.7 |
| Louisville -- River Road Site | Shovel-Ready | KY | Jefferson | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.5 |
| Coldstream Research Campus - Turkey Neck | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.4 |
| Providence Business Center | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.4 |
| Coldstream Research Campus | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.4 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 1 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.3 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 2 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.3 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 3 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.3 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 4 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.2 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 6 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.2 |
| Albert Lea Area Properties (7 Sites) - Site 5 | Shovel-Ready | MN | Freeborn County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.2 |
| Camp Ground Road Site 111-084 | Shovel-Ready | KY | Jefferson | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Hopkinsville -- Commerce Industrial Park II | Shovel-Ready | KY | Christian | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Hopkinsville Data Park | Shovel-Ready | KY | Christian | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Meadowcrest -- 2550 Winchester Road | Shovel-Ready | KY | Fayette | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Murphy Industrial Property | Shovel-Ready | KY | Warren | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Blankenbaker Station Business Park I, II & III | Shovel-Ready | KY | Jefferson | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.2 |
| Louisville -- Atkemix Ten Site | Shovel-Ready | KY | Jefferson | — | — | 3.9 yrs | 58.1 |
| Marshfield Yellowstone Industrial Park | Shovel-Ready | WI | Wood County | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 58.1 |
What do the top-scoring shovel-ready sites have in common?
The top 25 shovel-ready sites score between 58.1 and 59.4. 18 are in Kentucky, 6 are in Minnesota and 1 are in Wisconsin. Their counties have a median of 7 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 3.9 years. None of the 2 with a mapped FEMA flood zone sits in a high-risk (A or V) zone.
Shovel-Ready site FAQ
What is a shovel-ready datacenter site?
Pre-permitted, pre-graded sites marketed for rapid development. Shovel-ready designation compresses entitlement risk, making these among the fastest paths from acquisition to vertical construction.
How many shovel-ready datacenter sites are there?
GridCensus catalogs 2,365 shovel-ready candidate sites nationwide, averaging 52.3/100 DC Readiness — 2% of all scored sites.
Which state has the most shovel-ready datacenter sites?
Virginia leads with 1,752 shovel-ready candidate sites, followed by Kentucky with 367.
What is the highest-scoring shovel-ready datacenter site?
West Industrial Park in Logan, Kentucky has the highest DC Readiness Score of any shovel-ready site, at 59.4/100.
How long is the interconnection queue for shovel-ready sites?
Shovel-Ready candidate sites sit in markets with an average interconnection-queue wait of 4.9 yrs, the 8th-shortest of 9 site types.
Other datacenter site types
- Greenfield datacenter sites· 18,112 sites
- Industrial datacenter sites· 35,788 sites
- Substation-Adjacent datacenter sites· 38,820 sites
- Former Mine datacenter sites· 26,205 sites
- Federal Excess datacenter sites· 17,528 sites
- Manufacturing datacenter sites· 7,657 sites
- Brownfield datacenter sites· 771 sites
- Military BRAC datacenter sites· 26 sites
By grid region
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 12, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Shovel-Ready datacenter candidate sites”, https://gridcensus.com/site-types/shovel-ready (data as of November 12, 2026).
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for Shovel-Ready 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.