Iowa Data Center Intel

Recent Iowa data center news

• Jul 14, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - July 14, 2026

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has published a climate and energy newsletter highlighting recent articles, congressional actions, and upcoming briefings.

  • Main announcement/action: EESI promotes an online briefing with the Natural Resources Defense Council on Thursday, July 16 at noon about tracking and reducing nitrogen fertilizer use, associated emissions, and lowering costs for farmers.
  • Background and other details: The newsletter also references a House vote on the SECURE Grid Act (H.R. 7257), a future briefing on severe drought on July 24, and archived materials on extreme heat, grid resilience, and data centers.
  • The issue is presented as a newsletter / event roundup rather than a standalone policy announcement by a company, and it includes EESI contact information at the end.
• Jul 13, 2026

  Tract looks to develop 900MW data center park outside Richmond, Virginia

  Tract has announced a pre-application filing to develop the Tuckahoe Technology Park, an 872-acre master-planned data center campus in Goochland County, Virginia.

  • Filed a pre-application for a conditional use permit (CUP) through VALCO Goochland, LLC for land in the county’s technology overlay district (TOD West).
  • The proposed campus would include 12 buildings, reach 900MW at full build-out, and require more than $3 billion in investment; a community meeting is scheduled for July 23.
  • Tract says it aims to make sites zoned, powered, and shovel-ready for other developers, and county officials said negotiations have been ongoing since late 2023.
• Jul 8, 2026

  Edged eyes 725MW data center campus in Pennsylvania

  Edged has announced updated plans for Project Atlas, a data center campus in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, scaling back from six buildings to three. - The revised proposal covers three buildings totaling about 1.5 million sq ft and 725MW, down from the original plan for six data centers and more than 5.1 million sq ft.

  • Edged says it will fund all power and infrastructure upgrades for the campus and plans to dedicate 160 acres to the Jordan Creek Greenway; the site spans about 410 acres at 2493 N. Cedar Crest Boulevard.
  • The article says up to $9 billion was originally set to be invested according to city documents, and notes the township planning commission is expected to discuss the project this week.
• Jul 7, 2026

  Data center campus eyed for 46-acre site in Maquoketa, Iowa

  An unnamed developer is reportedly proposing a new data center project on 46 acres south of Maquoketa, Iowa. The report describes a local meeting and planning discussion rather than a confirmed company announcement.

  • The proposed facility is described as small to mid-sized and would be built on 46 acres off Highway 61 in Maquoketa’s industrial park; an end-user has not yet been secured and the site would not be used for cryptocurrency.
  • The land is already zoned Heavy Industrial (I-3), could be sold for $25,000 per acre (about $1.15 million total), and the unnamed developer would cover infrastructure upgrade costs with no incentives sought.
• Jun 30, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - June 30, 2026

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) recaps Expo2026 panels and highlights recent policy developments.

  • Main announcement: EESI summarizes the 29th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum (Expo2026), providing links to full recorded panels on topics including permitting reform, energy affordability, data centers, and building and grid resilience; the newsletter links to EESI’s YouTube recordings and lists speakers and organizations for each session.
  • Policy and event updates: The newsletter reports the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill (PDF link provided) and notes the House passed H.R.7567 in April; it also records recent congressional actions including passage of S.629 (Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act) through the House, passage of S.4822 (Saving the Ocean Observatories Initiative Act of 2026) in the Senate, reintroduction of S.4867 (Small Farm Conservation Act), and introduction of S.4870 to reauthorize Earth MRI; it lists upcoming EESI briefings on July 16, 2026 (Nitrogen pollution research roadmap) and July 24, 2026 (drought impacts).
• Jun 29, 2026

  900-acre data center could be built in Salix, Iowa

  MidAmerican sent a letter to the Salix City Council on June 8 stating it is evaluating a 900-acre parcel for possible development as a data center and that its affiliate has acquired options on the property.

  • Main announcement: MidAmerican (MidAmerican Energy) said the site bounded by Old Highway 75, 260th Street, and Charles Avenue is “being evaluated for possible development as a data center site”; its affiliate Midwest Capital Group, Inc. has acquired options on the property to transfer to a future customer. No end-user customer has been chosen; any customer would be required to pay the full cost of the infrastructure needed to serve its load (including generation, transmission, and substation investment) and would pay approved electric rates for a customer of this size.
  • Background and procedural details: The 900-acre parcel was annexed by the Salix City Council in April; Salix officials said no rezoning application had been submitted as of June 10. Local opposition includes a Change.org petition with more than 540 signatures, and Woodbury County passed a data center moratorium on June 23 (which blocks approvals on unincorporated county land but does not directly block the annexed city land).
• Jun 26, 2026

  Karis named as firm behind proposed data center project in Dubuque County, Iowa

  Real estate firm Karis is reportedly behind a proposed data center project in Dubuque County, Iowa.

  • Project disclosure and status: Karis was identified via public records obtained by local news as the interested buyer seeking to purchase hundreds of acres near Dubuque Regional Airport for a proposed data center; the proposal appears to be in early stages and is subject to a 12-month Dubuque County moratorium on data centers.
  • Background and related details: Karis operates a data center platform, Karis Critical, which it says has assembled more than 1,500 acres and 3GW of potential capacity; the company recently had a Naperville, Illinois proposal denied by the Naperville City Council and is targeting additional sites in DeKalb, IL; New Albany, OH; Aiken, SC; and Birmingham, AL.
    • Town hall: nearly 300 people attended a local town hall on June 24, 2026, raising concerns on water quality, property value, utility infrastructure, and future economic development (source: KCRG).
• Jun 17, 2026

  Missouri Emerges as the Next Hyperscale Frontier Amid Growing Power Demands

  Amazon has announced plans to invest $10 billion in a new data center campus in Montgomery County, Missouri, following Google’s prior $15 billion Montgomery County announcement, bringing recent hyperscale commitments in the county to $25 billion.

  • Main announcement and project details: Amazon announced a $10 billion data center campus (Project Green) near New Florence on a roughly 1,000-acre site; the company said the project will create more than 400 full-time jobs and thousands of construction positions, pay 100% of utility infrastructure extension costs, not receive discounted electric rates, and design cooling to use water-based systems <7% of the year; construction activities reportedly began in April.
  • Background and implementation context: This follows Google’s $15 billion Montgomery County data center announcement (combined $25 billion); analysts cited power and economics as drivers as hyperscalers seek new markets; Missouri Governor Kehoe issued Executive Order 26-02 (Jan 2026) directing the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to review energy regulations and infrastructure planning with a report due Nov 30, 2026.
• Jun 16, 2026

  Emerging Power Strategies Transforming AI Data Center Development

  Data Center Frontier reports a set of announcements from Hitachi & X LABS, DataBank, VIVIFY Technology, Flex/EP², Cerberus/S+S Industries, and AZIO AI/EVTV focused on making power the central element of AI data center development.

  • Main announcement/action: Hitachi and X LABS propose dedicated “energy parks” for AI customers in North America, an integrated behind-the-meter, gigawatt-scale power platform combining generation, storage, T&D infrastructure and energy management (first energy park planned for completion early 2030s). Other contemporaneous announcements include DataBank’s 3,150 kW rooftop solar at HOU3 (expected ~4.5 million kWh annually over 25 years), VIVIFY’s modular 1 MW closed-loop hydrogen system (the “Flying Pig”), Flex’s acquisition of Electrical Power Products (EP²) to expand critical power capabilities, Cerberus’ strategic investment in S+S Industries, and the AZIO AI–EVTV merger identifying ~11 MW existing site capacity with hardware ordered for an initial 6 MW and planning up to 500 MW same-site capacity across a controlled 548+ acre footprint.
  • Background and details: The pieces together show layered strategies: gigawatt-class energy parks (long-cycle, capital-intensive) vs. distributed on-site generation (DataBank rooftop solar as an energy hedge), alternative modular power (VIVIFY hydrogen containers nearing deployment), and supply-chain/metalwork investments (Flex/EP² and Cerberus/S+S) to address equipment lead times. Most actions are announced in formal releases or press events and include implementation timelines (e.g., early-2030s for Hitachi/X LABS energy park; DataBank’s 25-year operating life for the rooftop array).
• Jun 5, 2026

  Google commits to replenish more water than it uses by 2030

  Google announced a goal to replenish more water than it uses by 2030 and committed $17 million to water stewardship projects across seven U.S. states.

  • Main announcement: Google committed to replenish more water than it uses by 2030, is investing $17 million in new water stewardship projects across Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas, and is reviewing 700+ RFI submissions to identify early-concept projects eligible for co-funding that can come online before 2030. The announcement was published in a company blog (June 3) by Google leaders Bikash Koley and Ben Townsend, and Google reported replenishing over 7 billion gallons in 2025 and expects to replenish over 19 billion gallons by 2030 through its stewardship projects.
  • Background and implementation details: Google currently has 165 water stewardship projects across 97 watersheds and pledged to help local utilities modernize infrastructure, report annual water consumption, and use air cooling or recycled/alternative water in at-risk areas (noting Google states water cooling uses ~10% less energy than air cooling). Google joined the Data Center Innovation Initiative with Amazon, Meta and Microsoft to pilot sustainable data center technologies. Independent findings cited include Berkeley Lab data on U.S. data center water use (66 billion liters direct in 2023; 60–124 billion liters projected direct use by 2028 for hyperscale centers; ~800 billion liters indirect via electricity in 2023), and reports from Ceres and WRI on uneven corporate progress and global water stress.