Nevada
DataCentersExposed tracks 37 AI data centers in Nevada — 8 operating and 15 in the pipeline — across 4 counties, drawing 7.0 GW of reported power demand from 7 tracked corporate operators. Nevada's data-center tax break cost local governments $80.7M in forgone revenue in FY2025.
Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated May 29, 2026
Nevada at a glance
The largest footprint in Nevada belongs to Switch, Inc., behind 11 tracked facilities. Alphabet Inc., Flexential Corp., and DataBank Holdings, Ltd. 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: Clark County leads Nevada with 27 facilities and a composite risk score of 39/100. Storey County and Washoe 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.
Nevada is not done growing. 15 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: 6 recent news items are tracked for Nevada 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 7 standardized 36 MW campuses in Nevada by 2035 — roughly 252 MW of new electricity demand and ~244 M gal/yr of cooling water. Under the higher-growth scenario (15%/yr) that climbs to 42 campuses (1.5 GW). For scale, we currently track 37 real data centers in Nevada (7.0 GW of reported power).
- Low growth5180 MW · ~174 M gal/yr cooling water
- Moderate growth7252 MW · ~244 M gal/yr cooling water
- High growth20720 MW · ~696 M gal/yr cooling water
- Higher growth421.5 GW · ~1.4 billion gal/yr cooling water
The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Nevada (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 Nevada
The taxpayer price tag
“FY2025 data-center (360.754) grand totals: $29,699,999 (Consolidated Tax) + $34,319,999 (Local School Support Tax) + $16,714,676 (Local Option Taxes) = $80,734,674. Report header: 'Reported below is the gross dollar amount, on an accrual ba…”
Program-wide cost of Nevada's data-center tax incentive(s), reported by the state — not attributable to a single facility. “Proj” = the state's own forward estimate; all other figures are realized/audited. Each links to its primary source.
County risk leaderboard
| County | Facilities | Pipeline | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark County | 27 | 5 | 39 |
| Storey County | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Washoe County | 4 | 3 | — |
| Lyon County | 1 | 1 | — |
Pipeline & proposals
- Proposed1.6 GWTract Data CenterOperator unknown · Lyon County County
- Proposed1.2 GWSouth Valley Technology Park Data CenterTract · Storey County
- Proposed810 MWTract Data CenterOperator unknown · Storey County County
- Proposed600 MWGoogle Henderson (proposed)Alphabet Inc. · Clark County
- Proposed224 MWNV11–NV14 Data Center CampusOperator unknown · Storey County
- Proposed170 MWTownsite Solar 2 LLCTownsite Solar 2 LLC · Clark County