Data centers in Wright County, Minnesota: 1 project mapped

Monticello Tech filed its formal applications for a conditional use permit, rezoning and preliminary plat on July 6, 2026. The city found them incomplete, and a revised submission in August was ruled complete. The Monticello Times reported that the filing describes up to eight buildings on about 547 acres, built in phases over four to eight years. It estimates about 75,000 gallons of water a day using dry cooling and about $45.9 million in public infrastructure that the applicant says the developer or the eventual operator would pay for. No end user has been named. Electricity use is not quantified. Xcel Energy would serve the site through a new substation on its 345-kilovolt system, with transmission upgrades at the developer's expense. The Planning Commission, which is advisory only, has a public hearing set for October 6, 2026, and the city says it must decide by December 8, 2026.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy sued Monticello in Wright County District Court in February 2026, arguing that the city's Alternative Urban Areawide Review of the site did not adequately evaluate environmental impacts. Under an agreement between the parties, Monticello Tech can keep pursuing permits but must give 90 days' written notice before any grading or site work. A pretrial conference is set for December 29.

Outside the cities, the Wright County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an emergency moratorium on May 19, 2026. County Ordinance 26-2 pauses applications to build data centers in all of the county's 18 townships, including townships that do their own planning and zoning, and gives the county up to one year to study the issue and adopt rules on the time, place and manner in which data centers would be allowed. Fourteen people spoke at the public hearing, all in favor of the moratorium. Commissioner Kirby Moynagh said the county needed to be "proactive instead of reactive." Board Chair Darek Vetsch cautioned that the pause is not a ban: "If you create an ordinance that says you shall not build a data center in Wright County, we will get litigated and we will lose." The moratorium does not change Monticello's ordinance.