Data centers and new power in Wasco County, OR
8.6 GW of new power is waiting to connect to the grid in Wasco County, OR — 18 active requests. Typical wait: 6.4 years. 1 projects are built, 40 withdrawn. Data as of 14 October 2026.
How far is it from your house?
Google The Dalles, run by Google, is in Wasco County and uses about as much electricity as 123,000 homes.
6 public schools are within 5 miles of it. Counted from the facility, not from any home. School list: US Department of Education.
What is happening with electricity in Wasco County
Every new power plant, battery or big customer has to join a waiting list before it can plug into the grid. This is what that list looks like in Wasco County right now.
Where every request ever filed here ended up
Most requests in the US are withdrawn — a developer tests a site and moves on. That is normal, not a warning sign for Wasco County.
What kind of power is asking to connect
By capacity requested. Data as of 14 October 2026.
All the numbers
60 requests ever filed
Source: interconnection queues published by BPA. Parsed and normalised by Watt Street. Data as of 14 October 2026. A queued project is a request, not a commitment.
Outcome of every request filed here
| Outcome | Projects | Capacity | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built | 1 | 101 MW | 1.7% |
| Still waiting | 18 | 8.6 GW | 30.0% |
| Withdrawn | 40 | 14.6 GW | 66.7% |
| Paused | 1 | — | 1.7% |
Waiting to connect, by type of power
| Type | Projects | Capacity requested |
|---|---|---|
| Solar | 8 | 6.4 GW |
| Wind | 6 | 1.3 GW |
| Batteries | 3 | 787 MW |
| Hydro | 1 | 7 MW |
Key dates for projects here
no dated windows published
| Queue | What closes | Closes | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| FERC | FERC large-load show cause — stakeholder comments on RTO responses Comments on the six RTO/ISO responses to the FPA section 206 show-cause orders of 18 June 2026 (PJM EL26-67, SPP EL26-68, NYISO EL26-69, MISO EL26-70… | No date published yet | unconfirmed source |
| FERC | FERC RM26-4 — generic large-load rulemaking Still at ANOPR stage. | No date published yet | confirmed source |
| FERC | Georgia PSC - Georgia Power must file large-load contracts 30 days before execution A standing obligation rather than a dated one: large-load contracts must be filed with the commission at least 30 days before they are executed. | No date published yet | confirmed source |
A date marked confirmed was checked by a person against the authority's own tariff, order or form page. Anything else is listed so you know it exists, with a link so you can check it yourself. Full calendar.
The biggest projects on file
top 15 by size
| Project | Type | Capacity | Status | Filed | Queue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G0681 | Solar | 2.0 GW | active | 2021-07 | BPA |
| G0852 | Solar | 1.5 GW | withdrawn | 2023-03 | BPA |
| G0797 | Solar | 1.3 GW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G1055 | Batteries | 1.3 GW | withdrawn | 2023-11 | BPA |
| G0773 | Solar | 1.3 GW | active | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0787 | Solar | 1.2 GW | active | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0779 | Solar | 1.2 GW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0775 | Solar | 1.2 GW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0825 | Solar | 820 MW | active | 2022-11 | BPA |
| G0849 | Solar | 820 MW | active | 2023-03 | BPA |
| G0774 | Batteries | 661 MW | active | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0798 | Batteries | 650 MW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0649 | Solar | 641 MW | withdrawn | 2020-06 | BPA |
| G0788 | Batteries | 600 MW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
| G0784 | Batteries | 600 MW | withdrawn | 2022-08 | BPA |
Big new power users asking to connect
10 on record
Requests to connect large new customers — data centers, factories, electrification — rather than power plants.
| Request | Capacity | Status | Queue | Stated use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cascade Renewable Transmission Project - HVDC | 1.1 GW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Network Load Expansion 4 Quenett Creek Substation | 300 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Network Load Expansion 3 | 300 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Network Load Expansion Phase 2 | 112 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Network Load Expansion | 90 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Mabton Substation | 50 MW | withdrawn | BPA | not stated |
| Chenoweth Substation | 40 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
| Big Eddy-Redmond 230kV Line | 23 MW | withdrawn | BPA | not stated |
| John Day | 8 MW | withdrawn | BPA | not stated |
| Vintage Valley | 0 MW | active | BPA | not stated |
Most of these filings do not say what the power is for. “Not stated” is the filing's silence, not ours.
How Wasco County compares
#14 in the US · #2 in OR
Wasco County ranks #14 of 1,607 US counties by power waiting to connect, and #2 of 31 in Oregon.
| County | Waiting | Capacity queued |
|---|---|---|
| Sherman County | 26 | 11.4 GW |
| Morrow County | 22 | 6.6 GW |
| Crook County | 31 | 6.3 GW |
| Klamath County | 13 | 5.0 GW |
| Jefferson County | 21 | 4.2 GW |
| Umatilla County | 16 | 3.5 GW |
| Gilliam County | 14 | 3.2 GW |
| Lake County | 20 | 2.8 GW |
Common questions about power in Wasco County
How long does it take to get power for a data center in Wasco County, OR?
The median wait for a project still in the interconnection queue in Wasco County is 6.4 years. Across the US, most large loads are quoted three to seven years depending on the market and whether network upgrades are needed. 1 projects in Wasco County have reached energization and 40 were withdrawn, so the withdrawal rate here is a better guide to risk than any single quoted timeline.
How much capacity is available in Wasco County, OR?
8.6 GW is currently requested across 18 active interconnection requests, and 101 MW has actually been built. A queued megawatt is a request, not deliverable capacity — most queued projects are never built. For deliverable offtake capacity at a specific substation you need a utility study, not a queue.
Is Wasco County, OR a good site for a data center?
This page gives you the power half of that answer: what is queued, what has been energized, how long the wait runs, and which large load interconnection requests are already recorded nearby. The other half — the state policy position, moratoriums and large load tariffs — is on our Oregon policy page.
Where does the data on this page come from?
The interconnection queue published by the transmission providers serving Wasco County — BPA — parsed and normalised by Watt Street. Every figure carries the date it was true. Data as of 14 October 2026.
Go deeper on Wasco County
The interactive map plots every one of these applications, and a generated county report puts them in a sourced PDF with the date each figure was true on every page.