Omaha / Council Bluffs.

The market right now

This is quietly one of the great hyperscale corridors: nearly $7B invested in Council Bluffs since 2007 with $7B more pledged, three Sarpy County campuses totaling ~350 MW, and public-power utilities building new gas generation specifically for the load. The workforce is scaling too — a funded apprenticeship program aims to grow Iowa's electrical workforce by roughly 95% by 2030.

• 22 facilities, ~5.18M sq ft and 859 MW; 17th-largest US market with power capacity up 96% since 2022 (Baxtel, 2026)
• Google has invested ~$6.8B in Iowa since 2007 (anchored in Council Bluffs, ~2.9M sq ft over two campuses) and pledged $7B more for Iowa cloud/AI in June 2025 (DCD, 2025)
• Meta operates three Sarpy County campuses totaling ~350 MW; largest building is ~1.38M sq ft (Baxtel, 2026)
• Google invested over $3.5B in Nebraska 2019-2023 with campuses in Papillion, Omaha and Lincoln (Flatwater Free Press)
• Google's proposed southeast Nebraska campus would draw 1,000-3,000 MW, more than Lincoln Electric System's entire ~800 MW summer peak (Flatwater Free Press)
• Google is funding an electrical training ALLIANCE program to grow Iowa's electrical workforce ~95%, targeting 700 apprentices by 2030 (DCD, 2025)

Every campus on the map

Solid copper markers are operating campuses; white markers are under construction; dashed outlines are announced or planned. Locations are approximate campus-level centroids compiled from public sources — county records, operator announcements, and market reports — as of August 2026. Dense clusters are grouped. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.

Operating campuses mapped

• Google Council Bluffs — Google · Council Bluffs, IA. Flagship Iowa campus since 2007; two campuses ~2.9M sq ft combined (DCD, 2025)
• Meta Sarpy campuses — Meta · Papillion / Springfield, Sarpy Co. NE. Three campuses (Global Park, South Park, East Ridge), ~350 MW operational (Baxtel, 2026)
• Google Sarpy County cluster — Google · Papillion / Omaha, NE. Six operational Nebraska-side facilities, ~415 MW fleet-wide (Baxtel, 2026)
• Fidelity Omaha West — Fidelity Investments · Papillion / La Vista, NE. Enterprise data center serving financial operations (Baxtel, 2026)
• Scott Data Center — Scott Data · Omaha (Aksarben), NE. Largest local commercial colo provider (Baxtel, 2026)
• Omaha colo cluster — TierPoint / LightEdge / Lumen / 1623 Farnam · Omaha, NE. Multiple retail colo and interconnection sites incl. H5's 17.3 MW facility (Baxtel, 2026)

Under construction & planned

• Google Council Bluffs expansion — Google · Council Bluffs, IA · under construction. Part of $7B two-year Iowa investment announced June 2025 (DCD, 2025)
• Google CB add-on investment — Google · Council Bluffs, IA · planned. Additional ~$1B committed to the Council Bluffs campus plus $1.3M river restoration (The Gazette / Data Center Frontier)
• Google Global Campus Omaha — Google · Omaha metro, NE · under construction. ~290k sq ft, ~70 MW, estimated launch 2026 (Baxtel, 2026)
• Google Papillion (8th Sarpy DC) — Google · Papillion, NE · planned. $600M data center confirmed; Sarpy County's eighth (Omaha World-Herald / Sarpy Chamber)
• Project Wizard — Undisclosed (evidence points to Google) · Sarpy County, NE · planned. Large hyperscale project in entitlement; identity unconfirmed (DCD)
• Google SE Nebraska mega-campus — Google · SE Nebraska (Gage/Lancaster/Cass/Otoe options) · planned. 1,000-3,000 MW with private gas generation; possible 2029 operation; site not final (Flatwater Free Press)

Power

Service territory: Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) - Nebraska side · MidAmerican Energy - Council Bluffs, IA · Nebraska Public Power District (regional).

• OPPD is adding gas generation (Turtle Creek Station, Standing Bear Lake Station) under Power with Purpose largely to meet Sarpy County data center load (OPPD, 2025)
• Nebraska's public power utilities are making a major bet on new natural gas to serve data center growth (Nebraska Public Media)
• Google buys 423 MW of wind to match its Lincoln site load (Flatwater Free Press)
• Google's SE Nebraska proposal hinges on private gas generation (possible carbon capture) and passage of LB1261 allowing large private generation (Flatwater Free Press, 2026)

The regulatory picture

Enforcement. Split market: Nebraska side (Omaha, Papillion, Sarpy Co.) is federal OSHA; Council Bluffs is under Iowa OSHA, an OSHA-approved state plan run by the Iowa Division of Labor.

Licensing. Nebraska licenses electricians statewide via the Nebraska State Electrical Division; Iowa via the Iowa Electrical Examining Board - crews working both sides of the river need both credentials.

Also in play. Nebraska ImagiNE Act and Iowa data center sales-tax exemptions drive siting; LB1261 (private generation for very large loads) pending in Nebraska (Flatwater Free Press, 2026).

What it means for the work

Contractors here run crews across a state line daily, which means two OSHA regimes, two electrician licensing boards, and one safety program that has to satisfy both. And an apprenticeship surge means job sites full of first-year electricians who have never seen an arc-flash boundary taped off in their lives.

Two-state market: federal OSHA in Nebraska vs Iowa OSHA state plan in Council Bluffs - contractors crossing the river face dual compliance and dual electrician licensing.

Google-funded electrical apprenticeship surge (700 Iowa apprentices by 2030) means thousands of early-career electricians needing NFPA 70E and arc-flash fundamentals (DCD, 2025).

OPPD's new gas peakers, substations and the Sarpy transmission buildout add utility-intertie and switchgear-commissioning exposure alongside hyperscale fit-outs.