Hennepin County, Minnesota
DataCentersExposed tracks 4 AI data centers in Hennepin County, Minnesota — 1 operating and 1 in the pipeline, drawing 9 MW of reported power demand, led by DataBank Holdings, Ltd.. Its transparent data-center risk score is 0/100.
Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated May 29, 2026
- Project exposure · 12
- Power demand · 0
- Water draw · n/a
- Land footprint · n/a
What's happening in Hennepin County
Facilities here with disclosed capacity draw 9 MW from the local grid. Data-center load on this scale is the single biggest driver of recent capacity-market price increases — costs that flow through to every ratepayer in the service territory, not just the operators.
DataBank Holdings, Ltd. has the largest presence in Hennepin County. We resolve project codenames and shell LLCs back to the corporate parent wherever the public record allows, so the table below names who is actually behind each site.
Below: every tracked facility in the county, the active state legislation that names it or its county, and local news. Commissioner vote records arrive in a later release; the placeholders show where that accountability data will land.
2035 Buildout Outlook
Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 1 standardized 36 MW campus in Hennepin County by 2035 — roughly 36 MW of new electricity demand and ~35 M gal/yr of cooling water. For scale, we currently track 4 real data centers in Hennepin County (9 MW of reported power).
- Higher growth136 MW · ~35 M gal/yr cooling water
The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Hennepin County (the rest to mechanical/air cooling), a split it derives from local water stress and wet-bulb temperature.
These are modeled candidate sites, not announced or permitted facilities. PNNL's IM3 model places identical 36 MW unit-campuses at feasible locations under each scenario — it shows where demand could concentrate, never a specific parcel. Figures use a market-gravity weight of 50. How the model works.
Every tracked facility
| Facility | Operator | Status | MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Internet Data Center Minneapolis | — | Proposed | — |
| DataBank Brooklyn Park | DataBank Holdings, Ltd. | 9 | |
| Minnesota Gateway Data Center Minneapolis | — | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| Verizon - Bloomington Network Bloomington | Verizon Communications Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | — |
County commissioners
How the Hennepin County board votes on each data-center matter — the rezonings, the abatements, the water permits — is built from public-meeting minutes and roll-call records. Know of a vote we should be tracking? Tell us.