Polaris Forge 1

Applied Digital · Ellendale, North Dakota

Water — consumed, not returned

Taken from the basin190M gal/yr

Evaporated on site4.64M gal

Making the power186M gal

Basin stressLow

Where the water comes from: Closed loop — negligible draw
Cooling: Closed-loop liquid; ambient cold does most of the work
Basis: Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.02 L/kWh

Air — what the stacks emit

Nitrogen oxides149t/yr

Sulphur dioxide299t/yr

Fine particulates27.2t PM2.5

Health damages$28.5M/yr

Where it burns: MISO West — Iowa / Nebraska
Generation mix: Wind 52 · Coal 22 · Gas 14 · Nuclear 8
CO₂e: 253 kt/yr — climate, not air quality

Who wanted it

Who asked for it: CoreWeave — 15-year leases covering the full campus; end users are CoreWeave's own AI customers
Who approved it: Dickey County permits; Otter Tail Power supply on a wind-heavy grid
What it serves: GPU capacity leased to CoreWeave
IT capacity: 100 MW running of 400 MW announced

North Dakota's cold and its stranded wind make this one of the lowest-impact large sites per unit of compute in the country — a reminder that siting choices dominate the footprint far more than operator policy does.

Where it is

46.0022°, -98.5254°

Google Maps Satellite See it on the map

Water and air figures are modelled from disclosed capacity, not measured — site-level error is roughly ±40%. Diesel backup generators are not counted, so on-site figures are floors. Full method.