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NCSA Petascale Computing Facility

Also known as Blue Waters

OperatingUnclassifiedBuildingChampaign, Champaign County, Illinois
20% profile completeness
15 claims from 7 sources
Current facility power
Not yet sourced
Planned capacity
Not yet sourced
Building footprint
45,700 sq ft[1]
Likelyderived
Buildings (planned)
Not yet sourced
Capital cost / investment
Not yet sourced
First operational
Not yet sourced

POWER & GRID

Time-to-power · verification · interconnection
Time to power
Operating (community-mapped, unverified)
Low confidence
Project verification
Unverified
Evidence is limited to community map.
Current stage
Operational
Furthest stage with documented evidence
Utility · ISO
Ameren Illinois Company · MISO
Substation: Unnamed substation (nearest, unverified)

Power reality

Announced
No record
Interconnection request
No record
Contracted / approved
No record
Under construction
No record
Operational
No record
AI evidence brief
Summarizes only the evidence on this page. Answers citing anything else are rejected automatically.

Project verification

Development
  1. Announcedimplied by a later stage
  2. Land acquiredimplied by a later stage
  3. Planning / zoningimplied by a later stage
  4. Permittingimplied by a later stage
Grid interconnection
  1. Interconnection application
  2. Feasibility study
  3. System impact study
  4. Facilities study
  5. Interconnection agreement / service contract
Build & energization
  1. Financing
  2. Under constructionimplied by a later stage
  3. Energizationimplied by a later stage
  4. OperationalSep 27, 2026
    Community map
    • Sep 27, 2026 · Reported status: operating[1]

● documented · ◌ implied by a later stage · ○ no evidence found. Dates are those of the earliest dated evidence, which can be later than when a stage actually began. Evidence classes: Community map.

Grid path

  1. facility
    NCSA Petascale Computing Facility
  2. substation
    Unnamed substation[1]
    Proximity onlyUnverified
    Nearest mapped substation, 0.64 km away. Proximity does not establish that it serves the site.
  3. transmission
    138 kV line[1]
    Proximity onlyUnverified
    Highest-voltage line mapped within 2 km (0.85 km away). Not confirmed as the supply path.
  4. utility
    Ameren Illinois Company[2]
    Service territoryLikely
    Retail service territory containing the site
  5. ISO / RTO
    MISO[3]
    Service territoryLikely
    Balancing authority: MISO
Substation capacity:
not published
Required upgrades:
not yet sourced
Congestion:
not yet sourced (no nodal price data)

Dashed boxes are based on proximity only and do not establish which asset serves the site.

Interconnection records

No interconnection-queue record is linked to this site. Of the ISOs we ingest, only NYISO publishes large-load requests; PJM, ERCOT, MISO, SPP and CAISO queues list generation only.

On-site & dedicated generation

  • University of Illinois Abbott Power Plt (Natural Gas, 79 MW) is 1.1 km away[6]
    EIA plant within 1.5 km; proximity does not establish that it supplies the facility
    Natural gasCo-located79 MWUnverified

Location & imagery

Mapped outline
Coordinates
40.09516, -88.24204
Address
1725 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820[1]Likely
County
Champaign County
Photographs
Blue Waters main data center room in June 2010. Still empty except for power distribution cabinets.
Blue Waters main data center room in June 2010. Still empty except for power distribution cabinets.
Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2010-06-17 [7]
Geotagged ~22 m from this location; title/description mentions a data center or this facility's operator. May show a neighboring building.

Ownership, operation & customers

  1. 1. Property owner of record
    Not identified
  2. 2. Owner / developer
    Not identified
  3. 3. Operator
    Not identified
  4. 4. Tenant / cloud
    Not identified
  5. 5. End customer / workload
    Not identified
Power supply
Utility:
Ameren Illinois Company(unreviewed)[2]Unverified

Each link is sourced separately. The property owner of record is often a special-purpose entity; the same company appearing in two roles is shown only when sources say so.

All parties with evidence
Utility
Ameren Illinois Company(unreviewed)[2]Unverified

Most likely retail provider among 2 overlapping service territories (largest retail sales; territory polygons are approximate). Also overlapping: Eastern Illinois Elec Coop.

No tenants or end users identified in our sources yet.

Power (all fields)

Current facility power
Not yet sourced
Planned capacity
Not yet sourced

Capacity figures are nameplate or contracted; annual consumption is a labeled model estimate, not metered data.

Grid & electricity

ISO / RTO
MISO[3]Likelyderived

Location falls inside this ISO/RTO footprint.

Balancing authority
MISO[2]Likelyderived

Control area of the containing utility territory.

Nearest mapped substation
Unnamed substation[1]Likelyderived

Nearest substation mapped in OpenStreetMap; proximity does not establish which substation serves the site.

Distance to substation
0.6 km[1]Likelyderived
Highest-voltage line nearby
138 kV[1]Likelyderived

Highest-voltage transmission line mapped within 2 km.

State avg. industrial price
11.87¢/kWh[5]Confirmed

Illinois statewide average, July 2026.

State avg. commercial price
15.19¢/kWh[5]Confirmed

Illinois statewide average, July 2026.

Generation within 50 km
1.91 GW[6]Confirmedderived

18 EIA-reported plants within 50 km.

Generation queued in county
1.12 GW[4]Confirmedderived

7 active generation interconnection requests in Champaign County: Storage 500 MW, Wind 288 MW, Solar 191 MW, Hybrid 135 MW. Queued projects often don't get built.

Interconnection status
Not yet sourced
Contracted / committed power
Not yet sourced
Nearby infrastructureTypeDistanceVoltage / capacitySource
138 kV lineTransmission line0.85 km138 kV[1]
University of Illinois Abbott Power Plt · University of IllinoisPower plant (Natural Gas)1.1 km79 MW[6]
Goose Creek Energy Center · Union Electric Co - (MO)Power plant (Natural Gas)30.5 km438 MW[6]
Prosperity Wind · Prosperity Wind, LLCPower plant (Wind)31.3 km300 MW[6]
Harvest Ridge Wind Farm · Harvest Ridge Wind FarmPower plant (Wind)32.7 km202 MW[6]
California Ridge Wind Energy LLC · SunEdison LLCPower plant (Wind)33.5 km200 MW[6]
Sapphire Sky Wind Energy LLC · Invenergy Services LLCPower plant (Wind)36.6 km260 MW[6]
Gibson City Energy Center LLC · Earthrise Energy, PBCPower plant (Natural Gas)43.8 km232 MW[6]
Pioneer Trail Wind Farm, LLC · RWE Renewables Americas, LLCPower plant (Wind)45.1 km150 MW[6]
Unnamed substationSubstation0.64 km—[1]
Unnamed substationSubstation0.82 km138 kV[1]
Unnamed substationSubstation0.89 km—[1]
Unnamed substationSubstation1.37 km—[1]
Southeast SubstationSubstation1.74 km—[1]
Ameren substation · AmerenSubstation1.96 km—[1]
Largest queued generation in this countyFuelQueue statusMWSource
J3558 at RisingMISO J3558StorageIn study · proposed 2027-09300 MW[4]
J3353 at RisingMISO J3353SolarIn study · proposed 2028-08191 MW[4]
J1967 at Rantoul East 138kVMISO J1967WindIn study · proposed 2025-10150 MW[4]
J3918 at 4RANTOUL - 4RISING 138.0kVMISO J3918WindIn study · proposed 2028-06138 MW[4]
J2648 at Sidney 138 kVMISO J2648HybridIn study · proposed 2027-09135 MW[4]
J2124 at RisingMISO J2124StorageIn study · proposed 2022-12100 MW[4]

Utility, ISO and nearby assets are derived from the site's location. Proximity to a substation or line doesn't establish the interconnection; that needs a utility filing or interconnection-queue record. Queue requests are applications, not commitments — most never reach operation.

Construction & permitting

  1. Announced
    —
  2. Land acquired
    —
  3. Permitting
    —
  4. Construction start
    —
  5. First operational
    —
  6. Expected completion
    —

Real estate

Official assessments
Assessor's value for a tax year

None sourced yet

Recorded transactions
Sale prices from recorded deeds

None sourced yet

Model estimates
Our model — not an appraisal

None sourced yet

Annual property tax
Not yet sourced

No county parcel or assessor records linked yet. County records are currently ingested for Loudoun County, VA and Maricopa County, AZ.

Size

Building footprint
45,700 sq ft[1]Likelyderived

Computed from the mapped OSM building outline.

Floor area
Not yet sourced

What changed (last 3 years)

Follow this facility (RSS)

No tracked changes yet. Values are recorded on every data refresh, so changes will appear here over time.

Timeline

No dated events sourced yet.

All claims (provenance audit)

15
FieldValueSourceConfidenceAs ofStatus
NameNCSA Petascale Computing Facilityway/138260136 name=NCSA Petascale Computing Facility[1] Likely2026-09-27Shown
Also known asBlue Watersalt_name=Blue Waters[1] Likely2026-09-27Shown
StatusOperating[1] derivedUnverified2026-09-27Shown
Address1725 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820[1] Likely2026-09-27Shown
UtilityAmeren Illinois Companyterritory 56697: AMEREN ILLINOIS COMPANY (INVESTOR OWNED, AMEREN ILLINOIS COMPAN[2] derivedUnverified2022Shown
ISO / RTOMISOMIDCONTINENT INDEPENDENT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OPERATOR, INC..[3] derivedLikely—Shown
Balancing authorityMISO[2] derivedLikely—Shown
Nearest mapped substationUnnamed substationway/1159692297[1] derivedLikely2026-09-28Shown
Distance to substation0.6 km[1] derivedLikely2026-09-28Shown
Highest-voltage line nearby138 kV[1] derivedLikely2026-09-28Shown
Generation queued in county1.12 GW[4] derivedConfirmed2026-09-27Shown
State avg. industrial price11.87¢/kWh[5] Confirmed2026-07Shown
State avg. commercial price15.19¢/kWh[5] Confirmed2026-07Shown
Generation within 50 km1.91 GW[6] derivedConfirmed202502Shown
Building footprint45,700 sq ft[1] derivedLikely2026-09-27Shown