Calculator 01 · Land

How much land does your load need?

Slide from a 5 MW edge site to a multi-gigawatt AI campus and watch the parcel, the halls and the substation redraw to scale.

Input

Planned facility loadMW

Or start from a typical project

Result

Typical land range

360–450acres

Hyperscale campus

Square miles

0.70

upper end

Football fields

340

upper end, end zones in

To scaleIllustrative layout

Acres per MW by project type

Edge~1 ac/MW

Enterprise & colocation1–1.25 ac/MW

Large colocation1–1.5 ac/MW

Hyperscale campus1.2–1.5 ac/MW

AI & gigawatt campus1–2 ac/MW

1 MW10 MW100 MW1 GW3 GW

For early planning only. Results follow from the inputs and the stated assumptions; they are not engineering, financial or legal advice.

How the math works

Acres per MW, by project type

The range comes from the sizing tiers used across this site: about 1 acre per MW for small edge sites, 1 to 1.25 for enterprise and colocation, 1 to 1.5 for large colocation, 1.2 to 1.5 for hyperscale campuses and 1 to 2 for AI and gigawatt campuses, where phasing room and on-site generation vary the most.

The drawing is to scale, the buildings are not literal

The hatched parcel is the upper end of the range and the dashed square the lower end, both drawn as squares at true area beside a football field (360 by 160 feet with end zones). Halls are sketched at roughly one per 50 MW covering about a quarter of the smaller figure, with heights exaggerated so they read at campus scale.

What pushes the real number up

Substations and switchyards, on-site generation, stormwater ponds, setbacks, easements and an awkward parcel shape all add land. Run the tract through the buildable acreage calculator to see how much of it is usable.

Questions

How many acres does a 100 MW data center need?

Using the tiers in this calculator, a 100 MW project falls at the top of large colocation, about 100 to 150 acres. The real figure depends on the parcel's shape, constraints and how much room is held for future phases.

Why does the land per MW change with size?

Small sites pack tightly, while large campuses need room for substations, generation, phasing and buffers. Gigawatt AI campuses vary most because some include on-site power plants and others do not.

Is this the same as buildable land?

No. This is the land a project typically needs. A given tract may lose a share of its gross acreage to floodplain, wetlands, slopes, easements and setbacks, so a larger gross tract may be needed to deliver this much buildable land.

Can I share a scenario?

Yes. The page address updates as you move the slider, and the copy link button copies it, so the person you send it to sees the same load.