Providence Strategy

America’s data centers and the power around them

OpenStreetMap contributors have mapped 1,257 data-center sites in 274 U.S. counties. Loudoun County, Virginia, has the most, 184. Virginia Electric & Power Co, one of the utilities serving it, delivered 60.2 TWh to commercial customers in 2024, up from 39.7 TWh in 2015; commercial deliveries by all U.S. distribution utilities grew 4%.

What this release covers: where data-center sites are mapped, how commercial electricity use has changed at each utility, how much new generating capacity is being built, and 278 projects confirmed in primary documents (company releases, government records and the like), each with the passage it rests on. Not yet: a complete count of U.S. data-center capacity, a full construction pipeline, or investment totals. The projects come from 393 leads found by web search, each of which was checked; they are not a census.

  1. 1,257
    data-center sites mapped in OpenStreetMap, with 244 million sq ft of mapped building footprint.
  2. ×10.7
    growth in commercial electricity delivered by Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (Virginia), 2015 to 2024. For all U.S. distribution utilities together: 4%.
  3. 98.2 GW
    of generating capacity under construction in the U.S. (July 2026), 13.2 GW of it natural gas. The records do not say who will use the power.

1,257 sites in 274 counties

Each dot is a building or a site that OpenStreetMap’s volunteer mappers have outlined and tagged as a data center. Buildings inside a mapped campus count once, as part of the campus. Mapping is uneven, so the counts show where data centers are known to the map, not every data center that exists.

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“None mapped” means no one has mapped a data center there in OpenStreetMap, not that none exists. Hover a dot for the site; click a county or a dot to list the county’s sites.

Counties with the most mapped sites (table)
CountyMapped sitesBuildingsMapped building footprint
Loudoun, VA18422533 million sq ft
Santa Clara, CA65695.0 million sq ft
Prince William, VA596511 million sq ft
Maricopa, AZ404510 million sq ft
Bexar, TX32585.3 million sq ft
Washington, OR31314.2 million sq ft
Fairfax, VA31322.6 million sq ft
Dallas, TX28273.6 million sq ft
Morrow, OR26335.9 million sq ft
Cook, IL26244.3 million sq ft
Clark, NV21202.8 million sq ft
Umatilla, OR20345.1 million sq ft
DuPage, IL18192.5 million sq ft
Douglas, GA16204.2 million sq ft
Franklin, OH16263.9 million sq ft

278 projects, each confirmed in a primary document

A project appears here only after we downloaded a primary document that names it (a company release, a government record, a regulatory filing, a permit) and read it. Status, capacity, dates and companies are what that document says, with the passage quoted and the document’s SHA-256 fingerprint kept. 123 of the 278 state a capacity. They come from 393 project leads found by web search, every one checked against documents, so this is not a national count. The megawatts are of different kinds, so they are shown apart and never added together.

Stated capacity by stage

  • Operating3617 with a stated capacity
  • Completed54 with a stated capacity
  • Under Construction5526 with a stated capacity
  • Permitted257 with a stated capacity
  • Announced3822 with a stated capacity
  • Proposed3611 with a stated capacity
  • Paused1no capacity stated
  • Cancelled2no capacity stated
  • Unknown3711 with a stated capacity
  • Status 18+ months old43last stated status; may have changed
IT or critical loadMegawatts of computing equipment (IT) or critical load, as the document words it.
  • Operating2.0 GW7 projects
  • Completed165 MW1 project
  • Under Construction3.5 GW10 projects
  • Announced4.5 GW6 projects
  • Proposed69 MW1 project
  • Unknown2.2 GW8 projects

3.5 GW committed (under construction + permitted)8.0 GW total announced (adds announced + proposed)

603 MW more is tied to a status last stated over 18 months ago (not counted above)

Utility demand or interconnectionMegawatts requested from, contracted with, or interconnected to the utility.
  • Under Construction650 MW2 projects
  • Permitted286 MW1 project
  • Announced3.3 GW4 projects
  • Proposed1.3 GW4 projects
  • Unknown2.0 GW4 projects

936 MW committed (under construction + permitted)5.6 GW total announced (adds announced + proposed)

1.3 GW more is tied to a status last stated over 18 months ago (not counted above)

Campus or unspecifiedA campus or project figure where the document does not say which kind of megawatt it is.
  • Operating315 MW7 projects
  • Completed60 MW1 project
  • Under Construction11.6 GW8 projects
  • Permitted2.1 GW3 projects
  • Announced6.4 GW12 projects
  • Proposed992 MW7 projects
  • Unknown2.9 GW4 projects

13.7 GW committed (under construction + permitted)21.1 GW total announced (adds announced + proposed)

2.3 GW more is tied to a status last stated over 18 months ago (not counted above)

Campus total only (up to)Only a campus total (“up to”) is stated; no phase figure. Not what will be built first.
  • Operating340 MW2 projects
  • Under Construction4.8 GW5 projects
  • Permitted1.2 GW3 projects
  • Announced700 MW2 projects
  • Unknown567 MW4 projects

6.1 GW committed (under construction + permitted)6.8 GW total announced (adds announced + proposed)

393 MW more is tied to a status last stated over 18 months ago (not counted above)

Our analysis“Committed” adds the projects documents describe as under construction or permitted; “total announced” also adds announced and proposed ones. The stages are the documents’ own words, sorted by us. Paused and cancelled projects are in neither. Some figures are worded “at least” or “up to”, as the list below shows.

When they are expected

Under construction Permitted Announced Proposed
Stated capacity by expected completion year (table)
Expected yearProjectsIT or critical loadUtility demand or interconnectionCampus or unspecifiedCampus total only (up to)
20267512 MW—29 MW—
202710801 MW—1.4 GW600 MW
20281—482 MW——
20301———300 MW
20361———700 MW
Year not stated506.7 GW5.1 GW19.6 GW5.2 GW

Each megawatt column is a different kind of figure, so the columns are not added together. Under-construction, permitted, announced and proposed projects are all included; paused and cancelled ones are not.

Every project

State
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278 projects

Documents read: 634 primary, 230 secondary (news and trade reports, quoted only as background). Of the lead claims checked against documents, 1,306 were supported, 241 contradicted and 513 not found in the document. Projects (CSV) · Quoted passages (CSV)

Where commercial electricity use grew fastest

Electricity each utility delivered to its commercial customers in 2015 and 2024, as reported to the Energy Information Administration. Depending on its tariff, a utility bills a data center as a commercial or an industrial customer, and the commercial figure also includes offices, stores and every other business. Growth here can reflect new data centers; on its own it does not identify them.

Ranked by the increase in commercial electricity delivered, 2015 to 2024.

  1. 1Virginia Electric & Power CoVirginia60.2 TWh +52%273in 9 of 101 counties
  2. 2Northern Virginia Electric CooperativeVirginia9.9 TWh +966%245in 3 of 7 counties
  3. 3Umatilla Electric Cooperative AssociationOregon7.5 TWh +3,839%46in 2 of 3 counties
  4. 4Ohio Power CoOhio20.4 TWh +40%39in 7 of 54 counties
  5. 5Florida Power & Light CoFlorida53.6 TWh +12%8in 5 of 43 counties
  6. 6Entergy Louisiana LLCLouisiana11.9 TWh +46%1in 1 of 60 counties
  7. 7Arizona Public Service CoArizona16.1 TWh +28%42in 3 of 14 counties
  8. 8Nevada Power CoNevada8.7 TWh +67%21in 1 of 2 counties
  9. 9Oklahoma Gas & Electric CoOklahoma12.8 TWh +34%5in 3 of 58 counties
  10. 10Berkeley Electric Cooperative IncSouth Carolina3.4 TWh +1,213%4in 3 of 3 counties
  11. 11Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant CountyWashington3.6 TWh +373%14in 2 of 5 counties
  12. 12Omaha Public Power DistrictNebraska6.4 TWh +77%16in 3 of 14 counties
2015 2024
Our analysis

12 of the 12 utilities shown report serving at least one county with a mapped data-center site. A county is often served by several utilities, so a site in a served county is not necessarily that utility’s customer. Service territories: EIA-861, 2024; sites: OpenStreetMap.

98.2 GW of generating capacity under construction

Every generator that utilities and power producers reported to the Energy Information Administration as under construction or planned, as of July 2026: 2,343 units, nameplate capacity. Cancelled and indefinitely postponed projects are excluded. These records say what is being built and where, not whom it will serve, and planned units may change or never be built.

  1. Solar46.6 GW under construction76.8 GW planned
  2. Batteries22.8 GW under construction42.5 GW planned
  3. Wind15.2 GW under construction9.1 GW planned
  4. Natural gas13.2 GW under construction56.5 GW planned
  5. NuclearNone under construction5.0 GW planned
  6. Hydro and pumped storage18 MW under construction3.0 GW planned
  7. Other321 MW under construction375 MW planned
Under construction or complete, not yet operating Planned (any regulatory stage)
States with the most capacity under construction
StateUnder constructionof which natural gasPlannedMapped data-center sites
Texas32.4 GW5.1 GW63.6 GW153
California7.2 GW56 MW13.1 GW97
Arizona6.3 GW689 MW8.8 GW42
Michigan3.6 GW15 MW1.7 GW11
Virginia3.6 GW—3.7 GW305
Wyoming3.5 GW—3.7 GW9
Arkansas3.5 GW69 MW2.7 GW2
New York3.3 GW3 MW3.9 GW23
Colorado3.2 GW635 MW3.5 GW23
Illinois2.9 GW—4.9 GW49
Oklahoma2.5 GW1.5 GW2.9 GW5
Florida2.2 GW612 MW270 MW11

What this release does not show

The questions that matter most about the buildout need project-level documents: county agendas and permits, utility and state commission filings, company disclosures. Until each is on file, these stay out.

Sources & methods

Data-center sites

NonprofitOpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap contributors, planet file of October 5, 2026, read from the OpenStreetMap public dataset on Amazon S3. A site is any element OpenStreetMap tags as a data center (telecom=data_center, building=data_center or industrial=data_center, or the same under construction) and is mapped as an outline. Data centers mapped only as a point, and unnamed outlines under 100 m² (115 in the U.S. together) are held back for review: many turn out to be offices, computer labs or equipment huts. Places with “data center” only in their name (138) are left out, as are disused and demolished ones. Features inside a mapped data-center area count once, as part of it, and neighbouring buildings within 120 m that share a name and operator (or have neither) count as one site (118 buildings merged). Each site links to its OpenStreetMap record; footprints are measured from the mapped building outlines. County: the site’s location in the Census Bureau’s county boundaries.

Electricity and generation

FederalEIA EIA Form 861, Annual Electric Power Industry Report (commercial sales and service territories, 2015 and 2024) and FederalEIA EIA Form 860M, Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator Report (July 2026), both as published in NonprofitCatalyst Cooperative PUDL v2026.9.0 by Catalyst Cooperative (CC-BY-4.0). Commercial deliveries count bundled and delivery-only service by distribution utilities, so power marketers are not counted twice. The fastest-growth ranking only includes utilities that delivered at least 100 GWh to commercial customers in 2015 (710 of 1,326).

Projects

Leads came from web-search summaries and were treated only as leads. Each project here was then found in a primary document: a company release, a government record, a regulatory or SEC filing, a permit, an incentive agreement or an official project site. Every document was downloaded and hashed; each figure is a quotation, checked to appear word for word in the downloaded document. Confidence follows a rule: HIGH when a primary document states a figure plainly, MEDIUM when it says “about”, “up to”, “at least” or gives a forecast, LOW for secondary reports, which feed no figure. Megawatts are kept by kind (IT or critical load, utility demand, campus or unspecified); a campus total is never counted as its first phase; nothing is estimated. Build: data_centers_v1, as of October 10, 2026.

Our analysis

Linking the two sources is our own work: a utility’s count of mapped sites is the number of sites in the counties it reported serving in 2024. It shows where the two overlap, not which utility serves which site.

Downloads and licence

Mapped data-center sites (CSV), © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License. Build: data_center_buildout_v1. Methodology · How we source