Bismarck, North Dakota, October 7th / PRNewswire / -- As traditional data center hubs face severe grid constraints, North Dakota has become one of the fastest-growing development markets in the upper Midwestern United States for artificial intelligence ( AI ) and high-performance computing. A new market analysis released today shows that the scale of data center development in North Dakota is expected to more than double its current operational capacity.
This report, titled " North Dakota Data Centers : A State - Level Market Analysis ", indicates that although there are currently 15 data centers in operation in the state, there are another 17 facilities in the development pipeline. Calculated by the ratio of development projects to operational projects, North Dakota has a ratio of 1.13, which is higher than that of Minnesota (0.98), Wyoming (0.93), and Iowa (0.80) within the region, as well as higher than the national average of 0.89.
Key Insights and Market Data:
- Significant electricity price advantage: The median marginal electricity price for data center locations in North Dakota is approximately $35 per megawatt-hour, which is significantly lower than the national median of around $49 per megawatt-hour, as well as the $47 to $53 per megawatt-hour in neighboring markets such as Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
- Adequate grid connection capacity: Site selection decisions are increasingly determined by the capacity of substations rather than proximity to population centers. The LandGate model shows that there are several substations in North Dakota that can provide over 1,000 megawatts of available connection capacity, with Ellendale offering approximately 1,330 megawatts, Hankinson about 1,260 megawatts, and Jamestown around 1,235 megawatts.
- Gigawatt-level AI project pipeline: Large-scale projects are taking advantage of this excess capacity in the power grid. The key projects listed in the report include the 400-megawatt Polaris Forge park located in Ellendale, the 455-megawatt Fighting Pike park located in Williston, and the recently announced 430-megawatt Polaris Forge 3 AI park located in Oliver County.
- Close proximity to base load power generation facilities: Developers are pursuing a strategy of direct placement near large energy assets. For example, Rainbow Energy plans to expand its data center by 1,151 megawatts at McLean County.
- Economic drivers are favorable: tax incentives, including savings of over $65 million in sales taxes reported alone on qualified data center equipment in 2025, coupled with a cold climate that helps reduce cooling costs, continue to attract large AI infrastructure investors into the region.
President Craig Kaiser stated: "Ultra-large-scale cloud service providers and AI developers are urgently seeking markets with available power surplus, fast grid connection pathways, and favorable operational economics. North Dakota excels in all these aspects and is becoming a key node for the next generation of high-density computing infrastructure."
Obtain the complete report
For a complete inter-state comparison and site selection feasibility analysis at the parcel level, please download the full North Dakota Data Center Market Analysis report here.
About LandGate
LandGate is a business under Wood Mackenzie, and it is also a leading energy and infrastructure intelligence platform in the fields of the US power grid, electricity market, and data center ecosystem. The proprietary data of LandGate covers the US power grid capacity map, node electricity prices, grid connection queue analysis, renewable energy projects, as well as data center feasibility studies. For more information, please visit landgate.com.
