CASE STUDY · WELD COUNTY, COLORADONorthern Plains Campus
A 420-acre greenfield site taken from raw farmland to a 300 MW, shovel-ready data center campus in 18 months.
420
ACRES300 MW
UTILITY CAPACITYMARKET Denver Metro
18 mo
TO SHOVEL-READYSTATUS Under construction
2
NEW SUBSTATIONSDELIVERED Q2 2026
CLIENT Confidential hyperscaler
Power was the constraint, not land.
The client needed 300 MW within 30 miles of Denver by 2027. Every parcel on the open market either lacked transmission access or sat in a multi-year interconnection queue.
DCES was brought in to find ground where land, power, fiber and water could all be secured on one timeline — without tipping off the market.
Three workstreams, run in parallel.
01Site identification
Screened 2,300 parcels against transmission, fiber routes, water rights and flood risk. Narrowed to 6, optioned 1 off-market.
02Power & fiber diligence
Ran load studies with the utility, secured a 300 MW will-serve letter and mapped two diverse long-haul fiber paths.
03Entitlement & close
Rezoned agricultural to industrial, cleared environmental review and closed in 11 months — with power already committed.
From farmland to foundations
Shovel-ready a year ahead of schedule.
300 MW committed before close
Zoning approved in 7 months
Two diverse fiber routes under contract
Groundbreaking Q3 2025
“DCES didn’t just find us land. They found us power — and a schedule we could actually commit to the board.”
VP, DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT — CLIENT NAME WITHHELDWeld County, Colorado
DISTANCE TO DENVER — 38 mi
TRANSMISSION — 345 kV, 3.1 mi
FIBER — 2 diverse long-haul routes
WATER — Municipal + reclaimed
ZONING — I-3 Heavy Industrial
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