A $4 billion data center has been rejected by local officials in Nobles County, Minnesota.

Renewable energy developer Geronimo Power has been eyeing a 959-acre land parcel located between 200th Street and 190th Street for the construction of eight data center buildings totalling 2.5 million sq ft (232,257 sqm).

But the Nobles County Commissioners’ decision to vote against a text amendment to the county’s Planning and Zoning Ordinance that would include data centers as a conditional use under the agricultural preservation designation means that Geronimo will have to look elsewhere for its project.

According to a draft scoping document that outlines three uses for the land parcel – to leave it as is, a data center, or a mixed business development – the company’s data center would have potentially consumed between 400MW and 1GW of power.

The site would have ultimately been sold to an end user who would operate the facility.

Geronimo Power, formerly known as Geronimo Energy prior to May 2025, was founded in 2004 and was acquired by National Grid Ventures in 2019. The company has an operating capacity of more than 2GW, and has an additional 1GW under construction, as well as a development pipeline of more than 20GW.

Nobles County is located in southern Minnesota, on the state’s border with Iowa.