Infrastructure Transparency Project

Every Data Center
in America, Mapped

GridWatch tracks every operational, under-construction, and proposed data center in the United States — their water use, energy demands, and community impacts. Free, forever. No login required.

Open data, always free

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Facilities Tracked

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Total Capacity GW

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States Covered

Open

No Account Needed

Updates

Status

Operational

Under Construction

Proposed

Cancelled

Support Independent Research

Help Keep GridWatch
Free for Everyone

GridWatch has no investors, no ads, and no paywalls. We're an independent civic transparency project run by a small team. Every donation goes directly toward expanding our data coverage, verifying new facility submissions, and keeping the platform running.

Make a Donation

Secure checkout No account needed Cancel anytime (monthly)

501(c)(3) status pending. Receipts emailed automatically.

Other Ways to Help

Free

Submit a Facility

Help us grow the database. If you know of a data center not in our system, submit it and we'll verify and add it.

Free

Share GridWatch

Tell a journalist, community organizer, or local politician about us. Word of mouth is our most powerful growth tool.

Institutional

Commission a Report

Advocacy orgs, law firms, and universities can commission custom state or topical research reports. Starting at $500.

Your Donation In Action

Every dollar directly funds our research, verification, and platform operations. Here's what donations make possible:

🔍

$10

Verifies one new facility submission, cross-referencing 3+ public data sources

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$25

Adds a new county's permit database to our monitoring pipeline

📡

$50

Covers one month of map hosting and data API costs

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$100

Funds a complete state-level facility audit and public report

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$250

Supports a public records request (FOIA/state equivalents) for unreported facilities

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$500

Covers a month of full platform operations: hosting, data, and one researcher's time

How GridWatch Is Funded

We believe transparency starts at home. Here's an honest breakdown of how we pay the bills — current status and where we're headed. We publish a full financial report annually.

~60%

Founder Funded

Initial platform development and launch costs were self-funded. Not sustainable long-term.

~25%

Individual Donations

Growing community of supporters who believe in open infrastructure data.

~10%

Research Commissions

Custom reports for advocacy organizations and academic researchers.

~5%

Grants (Applied)

We've applied to the Knight Foundation and two other civic tech funders. Results pending.

Our goal is to reach a funding mix of 40% grants, 35% donations, 25% research commissions — making us sustainable without ever charging users or accepting advertising.

Grant Opportunities We're Pursuing

If you work at a foundation or know of relevant funding, we'd love to hear from you. These are the primary grant programs we've identified as strong fits:

Knight Foundation

News Innovation & Journalism

Funds civic tech projects that improve public access to information. GridWatch fits squarely within their infrastructure transparency mandate.

$25k – $250k · Annual deadline

Mozilla Foundation

Technology & Society

Supports open-source, privacy-respecting civic tools. Our fully open codebase and no-tracking policy aligns well.

$10k – $100k · Rolling

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Sustainable Development

RBF funds work on energy, climate, and community resilience — all directly relevant to data center water and grid impact.

$15k – $75k · Annual

Schmidt Futures

Civic Innovation

Funds technology-enabled civic infrastructure projects. Data center impact transparency is an emerging priority area.

$50k – $500k · Invitation & Open

MacArthur Foundation

Just Imperative

Focus on communities affected by environmental and economic inequality — directly relevant to communities hosting data centers without adequate benefit agreements.

$20k – $200k · LOI-based

Environmental Defense Fund

Oceans & Ecosystems / Water

EDF funds water data transparency tools. Our coverage of water withdrawal impacts at data centers may qualify for program-related investment.

$10k – $50k · Rolling

For Journalists & Researchers

GridWatch data is free to use in reporting and academic research, with attribution. We actively partner with journalists and provide embeds, data access agreements, and source verification support at no cost.

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Press Use

All GridWatch data may be cited in news articles freely. We ask for attribution: "Source: GridWatch (gridwatch.us)." We're available for comment and expert verification.

🎓
Academic Research

We provide full dataset exports for academic research at no charge. Submit a brief description of your research for a dedicated data package.

⚖️
Legal Advocacy

Environmental law firms and public interest litigators may use our data freely. We can provide declaration support and expert witness documentation.

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Policy Work

State and federal legislative staff are encouraged to use GridWatch for policy research. We provide custom data exports and briefings for public servants at no cost.

About GridWatch

Why Transparency Matters

Data centers are the invisible infrastructure of the digital economy. They power AI, cloud computing, streaming, and finance — but their physical footprint has profound consequences for local communities, water supplies, power grids, and the environment. GridWatch exists to make those consequences visible to the public.

We aggregate data from public permit filings, utility records, EPA reports, SEC disclosures, and investigative journalism, then make it freely available to citizens, journalists, advocates, and policymakers.

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Energy

US data centers consume ~200 billion kWh per year — ~2% of national electricity — and AI infrastructure may triple that by 2030.

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Water

A single hyperscale facility can consume 3–5 million gallons daily. In drought regions like the Southwest, this competes directly with agriculture and municipal needs.

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Community

Data centers create 20–80 permanent jobs per facility while placing enormous strain on local infrastructure, utilities, and housing.

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Regulation

No federal disclosure requirements exist for data center water or energy use. Most states have none either. Independent tracking is essential.

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Climate

Diesel generators, refrigerants, and grid dependency contribute to local air quality problems and greenhouse gas emissions at scale.

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Subsidies

Data centers routinely receive massive property tax abatements. GridWatch tracks publicly available incentive data so citizens can evaluate the tradeoffs.

Our Data Sources

Every facility in our database is linked to at least one verifiable public record. We document our methodology and welcome corrections.

Federal

EPA NPDES Water PermitsIndustrial water discharge and withdrawal permits, searchable by state and facility type. Primary source for water impact data.

Federal

EIA Forms 860 & 861US Energy Information Administration utility-scale generation and large commercial electricity consumption records.

Federal

SEC EDGAR FilingsPublic companies disclose material data center capex, acquisitions, and site details in 10-K and 8-K filings.

State

Public Utility Commission Interconnection RequestsUtility interconnection filings often reveal planned facilities months or years before public announcements. Our most valuable early-warning source.

Local

County Building & Zoning PermitsLocal permit databases capture construction, electrical, and site development activity. We monitor 200+ county databases.

Industry

Data Center Dynamics / Structure ResearchIndustry trade publications with primary reporting on facility announcements, expansions, and closures.

Community

Verified User SubmissionsCitizens, journalists, and community groups submit new facilities via our submission form. All submissions are verified before publishing.

Every Data Centerin America, Mapped

Help Keep GridWatchFree for Everyone

Make a Donation

Other Ways to Help

Your Donation In Action

How GridWatch Is Funded

Grant Opportunities We're Pursuing

For Journalists & Researchers

📰Press Use

🎓Academic Research

⚖️Legal Advocacy

🏛️Policy Work

Why Transparency Matters

⚡Energy

💧Water

🏘️Community

⚖️Regulation

🌡️Climate

💰Subsidies

Our Data Sources

Contact Your Representative

Submit a Facility

Every Data Center
in America, Mapped

Help Keep GridWatch
Free for Everyone

📰
Press Use

🎓
Academic Research

⚖️
Legal Advocacy

🏛️
Policy Work

⚡
Energy

💧
Water

🏘️
Community

⚖️
Regulation

🌡️
Climate

💰
Subsidies