US Data Center Tracker: 5 July Milestones From Meta's 5 GW Louisiana Expansion to Palm Beach's Project Tango Vote
A five-project July tracker comparing power, investment, jobs, and community outcomes from major US data-center expansions, leases, litigation, and a county rejection.
July did not produce one uniform data-center story. It produced a $50 billion expansion in Louisiana, a 3.2 GW proposal in Georgia, a noise lawsuit around Microsoft's newly operating Wisconsin facility, a 175 MW lease in Sandersville, and a 600 MW Florida proposal rejected after a 12-hour hearing.
This issue covers milestones reported or decided from July 1 through July 31, 2026. The figures are not perfectly comparable: some sources report contracted revenue, others capital spending; some report IT load, others generation capacity. Those definitions matter as much as the headline number.
July project tape at a glance
| Project | July milestone and location | Investment / contract value | Power | Jobs | Community and status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Hyperion | Expansion of the under-construction campus in Holly Ridge, Richland Parish, Louisiana 1 | $50B; more than $1B in local infrastructure improvements 2 | 5,000 MW IT capacity; Axios separately reports 7,500 MW of planned generation capacity 123 | About 7,500 construction; about 1,000 direct and 1,900 indirect operating jobs 2 | State officials emphasize tax and infrastructure gains; energy advocates question the eventual load and ratepayer exposure 4 |
| OpenAI Project Camellia | Announcement and initial development process near Rincon, Effingham County, Georgia | $20B projected investment; OpenAI describes the project as privately funded without stating a total in its own release 56 | 3,200 MW, phased from 2028 to 2032 5 | 400 long-term local jobs; thousands of construction and on-site jobs claimed by the project partners 67 | $80M community-benefit commitment, but residents raised transparency, water, noise, and tax concerns; DRI review remains ahead 8 |
| Microsoft Fairwater | Noise lawsuit reported around the first fully operational facility in Mount Pleasant, Racine County, Wisconsin 910 | $3.3B facility figure in industry coverage; Microsoft says $4.7B in local hyperscale construction spending from 2024–2028 1112 | Not disclosed in the opened sources | 550 full-time employees at the first facility; about 800 expected in the village when the second facility is operational 12 | Three residents sued over noise; Microsoft says it investigated complaints and installed mitigations 9 |
| CleanSpark Sandersville | Twenty-year infrastructure lease at the Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia campus 13 | $6.6B contracted revenue initially; up to $11.6B with extensions; total capital investment not disclosed 14 | 175 MW of critical IT load 14 | Not disclosed | Sandersville's mayor described CleanSpark as a community pillar, citing job stability and tax revenue; the tenant remains confidential 15 |
| Project Tango | Palm Beach County, Florida, rejected the proposed expansion near Arden and Saddle View Elementary School | Not disclosed in the opened local coverage | 600 MW | 600 employees across three shifts 16 | Commissioners voted 5–1 to deny the amendment after a 12-hour hearing; residents cited water, noise, safety, and environmental concerns 16 |
1. Meta's Richland Parish expansion: the load number needs a footnote
Meta confirmed on July 13 that it would expand its under-construction Hyperion data center in rural northeast Louisiana. The project value rose from the original $10 billion announcement to $50 billion, according to local coverage. The expansion adds more than $1 billion in roads, water, and wastewater improvements, plus a $5 million contribution to Louisiana Delta Community College for data-center job training. 2
- Location: Holly Ridge, Richland Parish, Louisiana, in the Mississippi Delta. 1
- Owner / developer: Meta.
- July milestone: Expansion of the existing campus, with the construction-job estimate rising to about 7,500 from an initial 5,000.
- Power: Louisiana Economic Development and Data Center Frontier describe the expanded project at 5 GW, or 5,000 MW of IT capacity. Axios reports that Entergy's related plan would require 10 new power plants with about 7,500 MW of capacity. Those are different measures: the first is the campus scale reported by DCF; the second is generation capacity attributed to the utility plan. The opened sources do not establish that Meta's simultaneous site draw will equal the full 7,500 MW. 23
- Jobs: About 7,500 construction jobs, about 1,000 direct operating jobs, and another 1,900 indirect jobs.
- Community response: Gov. Jeff Landry and Meta point to tax revenue, local infrastructure, and workforce funding. The Louisiana Illuminator also quotes the Alliance for Affordable Energy warning that the facility's ultimate energy requirement remains unclear. Landry said residents would not pay for the buildout; the advocate said regulators and consumers still lack enough detail to test that claim. 4
The useful takeaway is not simply that Louisiana won a large project. It is that the public ledger now contains several large numbers with different owners: Meta's investment and job claims, the campus's stated power scale, and Entergy's generation plan. The next negotiation will turn on whether those numbers are published in one utility filing with clear cost allocation.
2. OpenAI's Project Camellia: a 3.2 GW announcement that is still waiting for a process
OpenAI announced Project Camellia on July 22 in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon in Effingham County. The proposed campus would use four data-center buildings on about 101 acres within the 2,600-acre industrial hub. The county's release calls the developer OpenAI and identifies the site as developed by The Broe Group; a local report identifies Octans GA LLC as the listed developer on the regional-impact filing. 68
- Location: Near Rincon, Effingham County, Georgia.
- Owner / developer: OpenAI; the tenant or operating structure is not yet fully specified in the public announcement.
- July milestone: Announcement of a long-term campus, with a Development of Regional Impact review still ahead. The project is expected to begin coming online in 2028, with power delivered in phases through 2032. 8
- Investment: Effingham County and The Current report $20 billion. OpenAI's own announcement describes the project as privately funded but does not state a total dollar figure. That is a source-definition difference, not a reason to collapse the two claims into one uncaveated number. 56
- Power: Up to 3,200 MW from Georgia Power, delivered in phases between 2028 and 2032. The agreement also includes up to 1,000 MW of flexible demand response, allowing the utility to reduce the facility's consumption during periods of grid stress. 57
- Jobs: The county release says about 400 long-term jobs. OpenAI and CBS Atlanta describe thousands of construction and permanent on-site jobs without giving a single consolidated total. 67
- Community response: OpenAI committed $80 million over the life of the project for schools, public safety, health care, utilities, workforce training, housing, and other local priorities. It also promised an independent annual audit and up to $71 million in Codex credits for students. County leaders presented the project as a way to expand the tax base and potentially advance a plan to eliminate county homestead property taxes. 56
The opposition is already procedural as well as environmental. Residents told The Current they learned about the project late and questioned water, electricity, noise, light pollution, tree loss, and the tax deal. The site is in a water-use Red Zone associated with efforts to protect the Floridan aquifer from saltwater contamination. The Development of Regional Impact review and the proposed Community Compact are therefore the next tests, not paperwork after the real decision. 8
3. Microsoft Fairwater: the first building is online, but the neighborhood dispute is not
Microsoft's Fairwater facility in Mount Pleasant was fully operational before this issue window. The July milestone was a new legal and community conflict: Wisconsin Public Radio reported that three Sturtevant residents filed a federal class-action lawsuit over noise from the facility and construction activity. 912
- Location: Mount Pleasant, Racine County, Wisconsin. 10
- Owner / developer: Microsoft.
- July milestone: Noise lawsuit reported July 2, after the first Fairwater facility entered full operation.
- Investment: Data Center Knowledge describes the facility as a $3.3 billion project. Microsoft's own announcement says the company expects to spend $4.7 billion locally between 2024 and 2028 on hyperscale construction. These figures describe different scopes and should not be added together. 1112
- Power: Not disclosed in the opened sources.
- Jobs: Nearly 550 full-time employees support the first facility. Microsoft says that number could reach about 800 in the village when the second facility is fully operational. 12
- Community response: Residents cited noise, dust, light pollution, traffic, and the change to a previously rural setting. Microsoft said noise levels met local ordinances, that it investigated the complaints, and that it installed mitigations. Mount Pleasant said it had received no formal complaints since mid-April adjustments, while the lawsuit keeps the dispute active. 9
The missing MW figure is material. A reader can compare Microsoft's jobs and dollars with the other projects, but not its grid burden. The August watch item is the interaction between the lawsuit, the second facility, and whatever utility disclosure accompanies additional load.
4. CleanSpark's Sandersville lease: power is public, the tenant is not
CleanSpark announced a 20-year infrastructure lease on July 14 at its Sandersville, Georgia campus. The tenant is described only as a high-investment-grade global technology company. The initial term is expected to produce $6.6 billion in contracted revenue; two five-year extensions would lift the potential value to $11.6 billion. 14
- Location: Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia. 13
- Owner / developer: CleanSpark; the tenant remains confidential.
- July milestone: A long-term lease that turns the campus's land-and-power position into a contracted hyperscale use.
- Investment: The disclosed $6.6 billion is expected lease revenue, not total construction investment. CleanSpark did not disclose a total Sandersville capital budget; it separately estimated landlord costs of $10 million to $12 million per MW of critical IT load. 14
- Power: 175 MW of critical IT load.
- Jobs: Not disclosed as a project-specific number.
- Community response: Sandersville Mayor Jimmy Andrews called CleanSpark a community pillar and cited job-market stability, tax revenue, and local support. That is a positive official response, but it is not a substitute for a published employment target or a description of the tenant's operating schedule. 15
The deal is a useful counterexample to the giant campus announcement. At 175 MW, the project is smaller than Meta or OpenAI, but its lease term is longer and its tenant is still unnamed. The next useful disclosure is whether the contracted load is already served, under construction, or dependent on a new interconnection and what the final capital spend will be.
5. Project Tango: Palm Beach County rejects a 600 MW proposal
Palm Beach County commissioners voted 5–1 on July 15 to deny the development-order amendment for Project Tango. The decision followed a roughly 12-hour hearing with overflow rooms and strong opposition from residents, school advocates, and environmental groups. 16
- Location: A 202-acre site at 20125 Southern Boulevard in western Palm Beach County, near Loxahatchee's Arden community and about 900 to 1,200 feet from Saddle View Elementary School.
- Owner / developer: PBA Holdings.
- July milestone: County denial of the requested expansion; the project is no longer an approved build under that amendment. The project manager told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the company would evaluate its options. 1617
- Investment: Not disclosed in the opened local coverage.
- Power: 600 MW.
- Jobs: 600 employees, 200 on each of three shifts.
- Community response: Opponents raised water, noise, safety, and environmental concerns. WLRN reported that the developer claimed closed-loop cooling would require 100,000 gallons of potable water per day, while an independent acoustic review challenged the project's noise assumptions. The county's Zoning Commission had already recommended denial unanimously on July 2. 16
Tango is the clearest July example of community response becoming an approval outcome. The county is now moving toward a broader data-center moratorium and new rules, while the developer decides whether to revise the plan or pursue another route. That makes the project a status risk rather than a construction start.
What July changes for the tracker
The five entries point to three practical checks for the next issue.
- Separate IT load from generation capacity. Meta's 5,000 MW campus figure and the 7,500 MW Entergy generation figure are not the same ledger. OpenAI's 3,200 MW is a phased Georgia Power commitment. CleanSpark's 175 MW is critical IT load. Without the definition beside the number, a ranking of projects can misstate their grid impact.
- Treat missing fields as risk signals, not empty cells. Microsoft has published job and spending figures without a public MW number in the opened material. CleanSpark has published a power figure and lease value without a project-specific job count or total capital budget. Project Tango had a power and employment estimate but no investment figure in local coverage. Those gaps determine what analysts should ask for next.
- Follow the mechanism of consent. OpenAI's DRI review, community compact, and annual audit are still promises to be tested. Microsoft's noise dispute has moved into court. Meta's ratepayer protections depend on utility and regulatory detail. Palm Beach County used a vote to stop Tango outright. The common question is no longer whether a developer can announce a large campus; it is which institution can verify the costs before the load arrives.
August watch list
- Richland Parish, Louisiana: Entergy's generation and cost-allocation filings, plus clearer separation between Meta's site load and the utility buildout.
- Effingham County, Georgia: Development of Regional Impact review, the Community Compact, open-house feedback, and the 3,200 MW phasing plan.
- Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin: The noise lawsuit, mitigation results, second-facility timeline, and any public power disclosure.
- Sandersville, Georgia: Lease execution, tenant disclosure if it becomes public, 175 MW delivery timing, and project-specific jobs and capital spending.
- Palm Beach County, Florida: Project Tango's next move and the county's proposed rules for future large data centers.
References
- 1Louisiana Economic Development
opportunitylouisiana.gov
- 2Axios New Orleans
axios.com
- 3Data Center Frontier
datacenterfrontier.com
- 4Louisiana Illuminator
lailluminator.com
- 5OpenAI
openai.com
- 6Effingham County
effinghamcounty.org
- 7CBS Atlanta
cbsnews.com
- 8The Current
thecurrentga.org
- 9Wisconsin Public Radio
wpr.org
- 10WTMJ
wtmj.com
- 11Data Center Knowledge
datacenterknowledge.com
- 12Microsoft
news.microsoft.com
- 13City of Sandersville
sandersvillega.org
- 14PR Newswire
prnewswire.com
- 15Metro Atlanta CEO
metroatlantaceo.com
- 16WLRN
wlrn.org
- 17South Florida Sun Sentinel
sun-sentinel.com
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