Sue Data Centers

Data Center Registry

Dickerson Data Center

Dickerson, Montgomery County, Maryland

ProposedOpposedRecord updated September 10, 2026

Dickerson Data Center is a proposed data center in Dickerson, Maryland (Montgomery County), operated by Atmosphere Data Centers. The public record puts it at 360 MW planned. It faces documented, organized local opposition.

Every line on this page traces to a public source listed at the bottom. Where a figure was looked for and not found, the row says so. A blank is never a zero.

Facility record

Proposed

Operator
Atmosphere Data Centers
Facility type
Data center
Location
Dickerson, Montgomery County, MD
Coordinates
39.2117, -77.4736 (approximate)
Power capacity
360 MW planned
Land
Not established from a public source
Investment
Not established from a public source
Announced
Not established from a public source
Utility
Not established from a public source
Power source
Grid
Cooling
Not established from a public source
Water use
2 million gallons a day, reported
Jobs
Not established from a public source
Public subsidy
Not established from a public source
Community reception
Opposed
Source confidence
Reported by at least one credible outlet or filing

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

  1. May 2026
    Proposed
    Five-building, 360 MW plan re-filed with Montgomery County in May 2026 (an earlier two-building proposal was approved in 2024). County public hearing scheduled for Nov. 12-13, 2026. Source: Nature Forward

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Organized local opposition to Dickerson Data Center in Dickerson, Montgomery County, Maryland is documented in the public record. Sustained opposition from Montgomery County community and environmental groups.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: opposed means documented, organized local opposition is the dominant signal on record.

Sustained opposition from Montgomery County community and environmental groups. The County Executive issued a six-month permit pause on June 12, 2026, the County Council enacted an 18-month moratorium on July 28, 2026, and the developer challenged the moratorium in court.

Source: Nature Forward

Power and water

Reuses the retired Dickerson coal plant's existing transmission lines and substation infrastructure; the application also includes a utility-scale battery storage facility on the site.

River-water cooling proposed; a permit application seeks up to two million gallons per day from the Potomac on peak days. The Potomac was named America's most endangered river of 2026 by opponents of the project.

Notes on the record

Five-building campus proposed by California-based Atmosphere Data Centers on the site of the decommissioned Dickerson coal power plant on the Potomac River. Single-source record: the developer's own filings were not independently retrieved. Re-checked 2026-09-10: status confirmed PROPOSED, no change -- existing record already fully captures the June 2026 six-month permit pause and July 28, 2026 18-month Council moratorium. New detail found this run: Atmosphere withdrew its legal appeal of Elrich's now-moot six-month executive-order moratorium after the Council's 18-month moratorium superseded it, and a separate county ordinance indefinitely prohibiting data centers was set to take effect 2026-08-17. This is regulatory-posture detail, not a status-enum change.

What the record does not establish, and the document that would

In every fight on our tracker the decisive fact came out of a public records request. These are the requests for this site.

  • Tax abatements or other public subsidy
  • Permanent jobs promised
  • Land area
  • Which utility serves it
Which document closes each gap
Tax abatements or other public subsidy
The abatement, PILOT, or development agreement approved by the county, city, or development authority, and the state's data center sales tax exemption certificate if one was issued.
Permanent jobs promised
The economic development application or incentive agreement, which usually states a job commitment and a clawback.
Land area
The rezoning application, the plat, or the deed recorded with the county.
Which utility serves it
The electric service agreement or the utility's filing with the state public utility commission.

Have one of these documents? Send it to us and we will add it to the record with attribution.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Dickerson Data Center in Dickerson?

Yes. Organized local opposition to Dickerson Data Center in Dickerson, Montgomery County, Maryland is documented in the public record. Sustained opposition from Montgomery County community and environmental groups.

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Dickerson Data Center?

The reception note on this record refers to a court proceeding. Read it in full under opposition and litigation above, and check the sources at the foot of the page for the filing itself.

How much water does Dickerson Data Center use?

2 million gallons a day is the reported figure on record. River-water cooling proposed; a permit application seeks up to two million gallons per day from the Potomac on peak days.

Who operates Dickerson Data Center, and how big is it?

Atmosphere Data Centers is the operator on record. Capacity on record is 360 MW.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Dickerson Data Center," updated September 10, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/atmosphere-dickerson-montgomery-md.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.32.0 (September 7, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/atmosphere-dickerson-montgomery-md, retrieved September 14, 2026.

Corrections with a public source are welcome at the Compute Atlas record or through our contact page. The whole registry is available as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.

Sources for this record

As compiled and cited by Compute Atlas, with our own reporting appended. Archived links are used where the original has moved.

  1. 1.Dickerson Data Center, Montgomery County, MD: Data Center Series, Pt. 5 · Nature Forward · retrieved August 26, 2026

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