This is a source-attributed discovery row. It can help you find a place and its citations; it is not a DataCenterData finding that the facility is distinct or currently operating.
Reported geography
Source-reported location for Leola Data Center.
Approximate source coordinates; this is not a parcel claim. Nearby source points are combined into one accessible target that opens this exact map scope. View these exact rows on the interactive map →
Source row snapshot
- Operator as published
- Leola Data Center, LLC
- Address and locality
- 11641 358th Avenue · Leola · McPherson County · South Dakota
- Official metro area
- Outside an official metropolitan boundary
- Source-reported status
- proposed
- Provider facility type
- data center
- Reported capacity
- Planned: 50 MW (source-reported; boundary not independently verified; MW measure not stated by provider)
- Source freshness
- 10 October 2026
- Location precision
- approximate
- Compute Atlas confidence label
- confirmed (provider's classification; not a DataCenterData check)
- Stable directory ID
dcd-dir-000860
Reported details
Source-reported by Compute Atlas; not independently verified by DataCenterData. Provider wording is kept; long provider notes are shortened and marked …; unknown is not zero; none of these values is totaled, ranked or compared.
- Electric utility
- Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU)
- Power source
- Grid
- Cooling
- Closed-loop
- Land area
- 20 acres (source-reported; parcel boundary not established)
- Community response
- Provider label: contested
Provider notes
Energy. In Sept 2026 the SD PUC unanimously approved a settlement letting MDU serve the site (next to MDU's Leola substation, inside FEM Electric's area). Minimum load is 2,000 kW per billing period. The PUC said the vote does not authorize construction.
Water. McPherson County CUP supplemental filing (2024-11-07) describes a closed-loop, 30:70 glycol:water immersion cooling process, with the glycol:water solution itself air-cooled via low-noise fans -- a recirculating water circuit is present, so this is closed_loop under the schema's tie-breaker rule, not air.
Community. McPherson County's Board of Adjustment deferred action on Leola Data Center's conditional use permit application (confirmed via direct fetch of Aberdeen Insider's report, 2026-09-13; the site's own article text was largely paywalled so the exact hearing date could not be independently confirmed this run). The county separately enacted a moratorium on data-center siting plus a one-mile setback from any church, school or residence, in county reporting tied explicitly to this application and dated to December 2024 (Aberdeen Insider, fetched 2026-09-13, also partially paywalled). …
What the source record says
Site is legally described as Section 28 (part E1/2), Township 126N, Range 68W, McPherson County -- a 20-acre parcel adjacent to Montana-Dakota Utilities' Leola Substation, at the SW corner of 358th Avenue (Highway 17) and 116th Street, about 5 miles southwest of Leola. The CUP application itself lists 11641 358th Avenue, Leola, SD 57456 as the site's general area/street address, which is what was geocoded here (US Census geocoder); precision is approximate because this is a street-level geocode, not a confirmed parcel-corner survey point. As of 2026-09-13 no final CUP decision had been located in sources checked this run.
Any MW value is reproduced as source-reported context. Its measurement boundary is not established consistently enough for comparison. Unknown is not zero.
Status history supplied by the source
- 2024-11 · source-reported proposed
Original conditional use permit application filed with McPherson County for a 50 MW data center on 2 of 20 acres adjacent to MDU's Leola Substation.
- 2024-12 · source-reported proposed
McPherson County enacted a moratorium on data-center siting and a one-mile setback ordinance while continuing to review this application.
Sources and attribution
These sources are listed for the whole row. Unless a figure links to its own source, the provider does not mark which one gave it, so a figure may not appear in every source.
- Leola Data Center -- McPherson County Conditional Use Permit Application & Supplemental Information · McPherson County, SD (via South Dakota PUC docket EL24-027)
- McPherson County Postpones Approval Of Leola Data Center Conditional Use Permit · Aberdeen Insider
- McPherson County Approves Moratorium On Data Centers, Enacts 1 Mile Setback · Aberdeen Insider
- Leola data center electricity to be served by MDU, next faces county permitting · SDPB
- McPherson County officials want legal assurances on data center pledges · The Dakota Scout
Adapted from Compute Atlas by Edward Kubiak, edition 1.34.1, under CC BY 4.0. Upstream ID leola-data-center-mcpherson-county-sd. Filtered to data-center records in the 50 U.S. states; selected fields normalized for search and display; DataCenterData directory IDs added. Some locations in this layer are reported by the provider as derived from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) and Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0).
Compute Atlas 1.34.1 with retained prior rows and publication holds. This is a DataCenterData composite, not an unmodified publisher edition. This row uses the captured source from 1.34.1, source as of 2026-10-14T20:40:52.293Z.
That does not mean the row is wrong, and it does not mean no reviewed record exists for the same place. A link is added only when an identifier or source establishes the match.
Recorded information
What this page records, grouped by topic, with the source's units and qualifications. Company-reported values stay labeled as company-reported. Related listings are shown separately.
Licensed directory listing dcd-dir-000860
Licensed directory row.
Provider notes and the source narrative are printed on this page and are not repeated here.
Identity and relationships
- Provider facility type: data center
Provider facility type.
Location and precision
- 11641 358th Avenue, Leola, SD · McPherson (Approximate location)
Roles
- Operator: Leola Data Center, LLC
Operator label as published by the provider; no parent company is inferred.
Lifecycle
- Source-stated status: source-reported proposed
Provider status label; not a DataCenterData finding that the facility is operating.
- Status history: 2024-11 · source-reported proposed
Status history supplied by the source.
- Status history: 2024-12 · source-reported proposed
Status history supplied by the source.
Area, acreage and buildings
- Land area: 20 acres (source-reported; parcel boundary not established)
Power capacity
- Reported capacity: Planned: 50 MW (source-reported; boundary not independently verified; MW measure not stated by provider)
Reproduced as the page prints it; not ranked or totaled; unknown is not zero.
- Electric utility: Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU)
Utility as named by the provider.
- Power source: Grid
Provider label.
Cooling, water, PUE and WUE
- Cooling: Closed-loop
Provider label.
Permits, incentives, jobs and proceedings
- Community response: Provider label: contested
Compute Atlas characterization, not a DataCenterData assessment.
Sources, dates, limitations and corrections
- Provider update date: 2026-10-10
Provider update date is not a DataCenterData verification date.
Not yet recorded here: Connectivity · Services · Certifications and design ratings · Rack density · Availability · Specification links and contact.
Licensed values: adapted from Compute Atlas by Edward Kubiak under CC BY 4.0. Source-reported and not independently verified.
Update this profile with a public source. The request includes topics needing more information; this does not mean the facility lacks them. Corrections and additions are reviewed before publication.