Data Center Registry

Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas)

Grant County, New Mexico

ProposedContestedRecord updated October 17, 2026

Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) is a proposed data center in New Mexico (Grant County), operated by Site Layer 1 LLC (Granite Renewables). The public record puts it at announced August 27, 2026, 8,000 acres. It is the subject of active public debate, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition on record.

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: Site Layer 1 LLC (Granite Renewables)
Facility type: Data center
Location: Grant County, NM
Coordinates: 31.9600, -108.4800 (approximate)
Power capacity: Not established from a public source
Land: 8,000 acres
Investment: Not established from a public source
Announced: August 27, 2026
Utility: Not established from a public source
Power source: On site gas
On site generation: 300.8 MW
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: Contested
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.

August 27, 2026
Proposed
A legal notice in the Silver City Daily Press announced plans to seek an NMED air quality permit for a data center powered by a natural gas-fired generation facility. Source: Searchlight New Mexico

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) in Grant County, New Mexico is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. Residents said they were blindsided by the classified notice and organized opposition.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

Residents said they were blindsided by the classified notice and organized opposition. The NMED secretary criticized the developer's community engagement as insufficient. A Grant County commissioner proposed a one-year data center moratorium, due for consideration in October 2026.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

Power and water

The public notice describes 32 natural gas engines at 9.4 MW each (300.8 MW total). At the Oct. 8, 2026 county commission meeting the developer instead presented a 715 MW solar plus 715 MW battery storage project, with possible future expansion to natural gas and a data center. Interconnection and large-load requests were pending or expected.

The developer plans a closed-loop cooling system using under 25 acre-feet of water a year but has no broader water plan. No water rights application had been filed as of early September 2026.

Notes on the record

Private ranchland (Hurt Cattle Co.) about 4.5 miles northeast of Playas and nearly 12 miles from Hachita, along N.M. 9, in southern Grant County. Coordinates are an approximate point derived from that description. The data center's size and end use are undefined, and the developer said it does not yet know the facility's end purpose. Linked to similarly named Site Layer 2 (Logan County, CO) and Site Layer 4 (Platte County, WY).

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
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.
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.
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.

Tell us about your situation

Living near Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas)?

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Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) in Grant County, New Mexico?

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas)?

No lawsuit over Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) 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 Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) use?

No water withdrawal figure for Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas) 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 Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas), and how big is it?

Site Layer 1 LLC (Granite Renewables) is the operator on record. No capacity figure is on record for this site. The site is recorded at 8000 acres.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Site Layer 1 Data Center (Playas)," updated October 17, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/site-layer-1-playas-grant-county-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/site-layer-1-playas-grant-county-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.In Silver City, rapid community response to local data center proposal · Albuquerque Journal · retrieved October 17, 2026
2.Grant County residents raise alarm over secretive proposed data center · Searchlight New Mexico · retrieved October 17, 2026
3.Details scarce on Grant County data center proposal · Albuquerque Journal · retrieved October 17, 2026

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