AI • Geothermal • Grid
Datacenters nearby that are approved for development
Geothermal, solar, and AI data centers are converging right next to the Coachella Valley.
These projects will demand massive power and create new opportunities for batteries, backup,
and grid services across the desert.
Coachella Valley Technology Campus
City of Coachella • Riverside County • Coachella Valley
- Location: Coachella, California — within the Coachella Valley region.
- Project size: Roughly 450 acres across two phases (Phase I ≈ 240 acres; Phase II ≈ 210 acres).
- Power / capacity: Designed for 600+ MW of data-center capacity with a dedicated new Energy Center (City + Stronghold Power).
- Timeline highlight: The Energy Center is targeting the first ~300 MW by Q1 2029.
Why it matters: This is a large-scale hyperscale campus project in your backyard. It sits next to significant solar farms and geothermal resources and will require serious power reliability, backup, and grid support — making it highly relevant for your solar/storage expertise.
Data center timetable
- Data-center element planned to break ground around 2026.
- Earliest realistic commissioning for initial capacity: 2027–2028, assuming no major delays.
Power & geothermal timetable
- Geothermal Stage 1 still in permitting/feasibility as of 2025.
- Full geothermal output likely: late 2020s (~2028–2030+).
- Full campus alignment likely: 2028–2029.
Controlled Thermal Resources – “Hell’s Kitchen” Lithium Valley Campus
Imperial County • Salton Sea Geothermal Field
- Stage 1 approval: Conditional Use Permit approved in 2024.
- Federal designation: Recognized as a FAST-41 “covered project”, which provides structured federal permitting timeline.
- Status: CTR reports the project is moving from feasibility/engineering into execution (Definitive Feasibility Study completed in 2024).
Caveats & current reality
- While Stage 1 geothermal is approved and underway, the full geothermal + data-center campus is not yet built or operational.
- Major construction phases remain: drilling, power-plant build, transmission upgrades, data-center shells.
- The proposed 4 million sq ft geothermal-powered data-center campus near the Salton Sea is still publicly described as proposed.
- Most current approvals cover geothermal/power generation; the data-center portion still likely needs tenant commitments and utility interconnects.
In short: yes, a major geothermal project is approved and underway in Imperial County. But no, the massive data-center campus is not yet online.
