Data Center Registry
Google Lea County Data Center
Hobbs, Lea County, New Mexico · All 61 Google sites · Every Google case on our tracker
Google Lea County Data Center is a proposed data center in Hobbs, New Mexico (Lea County), operated by Google. The public record puts it at announced September 14, 2026.
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
- Facility type
- Data center
- Location
- Hobbs, Lea County, NM
- Coordinates
- 32.7000, -103.2500 (approximate)
- Power capacity
- Not established from a public source
- Land
- Not established from a public source
- Investment
- Not established from a public source
- Announced
- September 14, 2026
- Utility
- Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS)
- Power source
- Mixed
- Cooling
- Closed loop
- Water use
- Not established from a public source
- Jobs
- Not established from a public source
- Public subsidy
- Not established from a public source
- Community reception
- No reception on record
- 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.
- September 14, 2026ProposedGoogle announced it is exploring a potential data center in Lea County; it is in the very early stages and many details remain outstanding. Source: Google
Opposition and litigation at this site
Nothing on record as of October 17, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Google Lea County Data Center in Hobbs, Lea County, New Mexico appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.
If you live near this site and something is happening that this page does not show, that is worth telling us. Send us the document and it goes in the record with the source attached. For sites where opposition is already established, see every contested site we track.
Power and water
Google's project site says the power plan is still being finalized. It is likely to be mostly clean energy (solar, wind, batteries) with some gas-fired firming, designed with SPS. Google says it will pay for 100% of the energy it uses and the infrastructure it requires.
The project site describes a closed-loop, air-cooled design with no evaporative cooling, with ongoing use limited to domestic needs. It gives construction water use of just over 900,000 gal/day on average, peaking near 1 million gal/day for about four months, plus a 9.5 to 9.7 million gallon initial fill.
Notes on the record
The site is roughly five miles outside the western edge of Hobbs, on county-owned land under an option-to-purchase agreement with Excelsior Hobbs Power LLC, Google's partner. A sale needs State Board of Finance review. Google has disclosed no capacity, investment, acreage or timeline. Coordinates are an approximate point about five miles west of Hobbs, not a parcel location. This is a different site from New Era Energy & Digital's Lea County campus near Caprock.
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.
- Power capacity in megawatts
- Tax abatements or other public subsidy
- Permanent jobs promised
- Land area
- How the community has received it
Which document closes each gap
- Power capacity in megawatts
- The utility's large load service agreement, the interconnection request in the grid operator's queue, or the electrical site plan in the permit file.
- 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.
- How the community has received it
- Planning commission and governing body minutes, public comment records, and any petition or lawsuit filed in the county.
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.
- Lea County Data Center · Lovington · New Era Energy & Digital, Inc.3 mi · Proposed · 7 GW
Questions people ask about this site
Is there opposition to the Google Lea County Data Center in Hobbs?
Nothing on record as of October 17, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over Google Lea County Data Center in Hobbs, Lea County, New Mexico appears in the sources this registry tracks. That is an absence in our sources rather than a finding that none exists, and local opposition often predates any coverage a national dataset would pick up.
Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Google Lea County Data Center?
No lawsuit over Google Lea County Data Center appears in the record we track as of October 17, 2026. Residents most often reach a lawyer over water supply, well drawdown, noise from cooling plant, property value, or a rezoning approved without the notice the ordinance required. If any of that is happening near this site, it is worth a review whether or not a case has been filed yet.
How much water does Google Lea County Data Center use?
No water withdrawal figure for Google Lea County Data Center is on record here. Cooling is recorded as closed_loop, which is the strongest available clue: closed loop and air cooled plant draw far less than evaporative cooling. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.
Who operates Google Lea County Data Center, and how big is it?
Google is the operator on record. We hold 61 sites for that company across the registry. No capacity figure is on record for this site.
How to cite this page
SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Google Lea County Data Center," updated October 17, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/google-lea-county-hobbs-nm.
Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.34.1 (October 4, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/google-lea-county-hobbs-nm, retrieved October 29, 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.We're exploring a potential data center in Lea County, New Mexico · Google · retrieved October 17, 2026
- 2.Lea County Data Center project website · Google · retrieved October 17, 2026
- 3.Google's Lea County data center plan remains exploratory amid water and land scrutiny · Neoteo · retrieved October 17, 2026
- 4.Google explores data center development in New Mexico · Baxtel · retrieved October 17, 2026
Is a data center disrupting your home?
Tell us what is happening. Where a participating attorney who handles data center cases in your state is available, we may share your information with them with your consent. It is free and carries no obligation, but we cannot promise that anyone will contact you.
- Tell us about your situation
- Independent attorneys
- No obligation
Attorney or law firm handling data center matters? Speak with us