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Data Center Registry

ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer)

Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado

OperatingNo reception on recordRecord updated September 30, 2026

ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) is an operating data center in Golden, Colorado (Jefferson County), operated by National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), U.S. Department of Energy.

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

Operating

Operator
National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), U.S. Department of Energy
Facility type
Data center
Location
Golden, Jefferson County, CO
Coordinates
39.7402, -105.1672 (approximate)
Power capacity
Not established from a public source
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
Cooling
Not established from a public source
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

Opposition and litigation at this site

Nothing on record as of September 30, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) in Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado 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.

A new status, a permit, a reception finding, or a lawsuit. Nothing else, ever.

Power and water

Warm-water liquid cooling with waste-heat capture and reuse, per the lab and DOE.

Notes on the record

This is the HPC data center inside the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) on the lab campus in Golden. It houses the Kestrel supercomputer (HPE, CPU plus GPU nodes), which arrived in March 2023. The lab needed '2.5-megawatt upgrades to support Kestrel'. A total facility MW figure was not in the fetched pages, so capacityMw is omitted. Coordinates are a Census geocode of the lab's 15013 Denver West Pkwy campus address, not the ESIF building itself.

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
  • Cooling method and water use
  • Tax abatements or other public subsidy
  • Permanent jobs promised
  • Land area
  • How the community has received it
  • Which utility serves 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.
Cooling method and water use
The water service agreement, any groundwater appropriation permit, and the mechanical narrative in the site plan.
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.
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.

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Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) in Golden?

Nothing on record as of September 30, 2026. No lawsuit, organized opposition, or contested hearing over ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) in Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado 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 ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer)?

No lawsuit over ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) appears in the record we track as of September 30, 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 ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) use?

No water withdrawal figure for ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer) is on record here. Water use is rarely published voluntarily; it usually surfaces through a utility service agreement or a state withdrawal permit, both of which are public records. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer), and how big is it?

National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), U.S. Department of Energy is the operator on record. No capacity figure is on record for this site.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "ESIF High-Performance Computing Data Center (Kestrel supercomputer)," updated September 30, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/nlr-esif-hpc-data-center-golden-co.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.34.0 (September 21, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/nlr-esif-hpc-data-center-golden-co, retrieved October 1, 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.Department of Energy's Newest Energy Research-Dedicated Supercomputer Arrives at NREL · U.S. Department of Energy · retrieved September 30, 2026
  2. 2.Computational Science Facilities · National Laboratory of the Rockies · retrieved September 30, 2026
  3. 3.NREL's New High-Performance Computer Has a Tremendous Supporting Cast · National Laboratory of the Rockies · retrieved September 30, 2026

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