Alabama
DataCentersExposed tracks 20 AI data centers in Alabama — 4 operating and 5 in the pipeline — across 7 counties, drawing 3.1 GW of reported power demand from 4 tracked corporate operators.
Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated May 29, 2026
Alabama at a glance
The largest footprint in Alabama belongs to Meta Platforms, Inc., behind 4 tracked facilities. Alphabet Inc., DC BLOX, and Prime Data Centers round out the most active operators in the state. Many of these sites are filed under shell or project names rather than the parent's — our operator column resolves them back to the real corporate parent wherever the chain is documented.
Geographically, the buildout clusters: Madison County leads Alabama with 5 facilities and a composite risk score of 10/100. Jefferson County and Jackson County follow. Our county risk score weights project exposure (40%), power demand (30%), water draw (15%), and land footprint (15%); the full breakdown is shown on each county page.
Alabama is not done growing. 5 facilities are in the pipeline — proposed, permitted, or under construction — which is where residents still have a say at zoning hearings and in rate cases. Each pending project is a decision about land, water, electricity prices, and tax revenue that hasn't been finalized.
We also surface the accountability trail: 1 state bill mentioning data centers and 6 recent news items are tracked for Alabama below, pulled from LegiScan and GDELT and refreshed automatically. Legislation is linked to the counties and operators it names; news is classified by community sentiment.
2035 Buildout Outlook
Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 3 standardized 36 MW campuses in Alabama by 2035 — roughly 108 MW of new electricity demand and ~104 M gal/yr of cooling water. Under the higher-growth scenario (15%/yr) that climbs to 18 campuses (648 MW). For scale, we currently track 20 real data centers in Alabama (3.1 GW of reported power).
- Low growth272 MW · ~70 M gal/yr cooling water
- Moderate growth3108 MW · ~104 M gal/yr cooling water
- High growth9324 MW · ~313 M gal/yr cooling water
- Higher growth18648 MW · ~627 M gal/yr cooling water
The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Alabama (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.
Top operators in Alabama
County risk leaderboard
| County | Facilities | Pipeline | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madison County | 5 | — | 10 |
| Jefferson County | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Jackson County | 3 | — | 7 |
| Houston County | 1 | — | 4 |
| Montgomery County | 2 | 1 | — |
| Shelby County | 1 | 1 | — |
| Talladega County | 1 | 1 | — |
Pipeline & proposals
- Proposed1.2 GWProject MarvelLogistic Land Investments LLC · Jefferson County
- Proposed1.0 GWWilsonville Data CenterNorthPoint Development · Shleby County
- Proposed500 MWWestern Hospitality Partners Data CenterOperator unknown · Talladega County
- Proposed300 MWBHM01 Nebius Data CenterNebius · Jefferson County
- Proposed40 MWDC BLOX MontgomeryDC BLOX · Montgomery County County