The site
The site from above
Power
Power and the grid
Getting on the grid
Who supplies what, what it costs, and what is still not public.
- Oct. 14, 2025Utility MW on record234 MW. Company · Oct. 2025
Permits
Permits checklist
1 granted · 4 checked, nothing on file
Approvals a campus like this normally needs, and what we found.
- ✓Utility and grid approval GrantedERCOT · Sept. 10, 2026: Interconnection queue approved by ERCOT. News report · Sept. 2026
- –Checked, nothing on file: Zoning approval, Site plan, Building permit, Water and wetlands permits
Money
Money on record
$14M
Land purchase
Undeveloped Barstow site acquisition by Ionic's predecessor News report · Feb. 2026
Timeline
What happened, and what is due
SitePaper trailConstructionPowerPermitsMoneyLegalUpcoming
- Oct. 14, 2025Site Project first appears in the public record
- Sept. 10, 2026Power Interconnection queue approved by ERCOT. News report · Sept. 2026
Construction activity
Since Sept. 2026: 1 satellite capture. Satellite · Sept. 2026
Who is involved
Owners, partners and builders
Owners and developers
- Ionic Digital, owner
- Celsius Mining, developer
- Hut 8, developer
Customers
- Nscale, tenant
- Nscale Ward County, tenant
- Microsoft, tenant
Still unknown
Open questions
- Signed electric service agreement and delivery date.
- Whether site work has started.
Where this comes from
23 records from 8 documents
Drawn from news reports, company statements and satellite captures, each kept with its date and source. The bar shows documents by type.
News report 5Company 2Satellite 1
Evidence
Every quote behind this page
Grade key: A = the primary record itself (permit, filing, exhibit) · B = a dated official statement · C = news reporting. Map distances are our own measurements on OpenStreetMap and carry no grade. Allegations in lawsuits are marked as such in the quotes.
Power (7)
- Utility service: 234 MW“Under the general terms of the Agreement, Nscale will lease the full 234 MW capacity of the facility”Company · Oct. 2025 · grade B
- Project status: Built and energized as a bitcoin-mining facility (first two of four 50 MW buildings energized Aug and Oct 2024); cryptomining at the site has since been decommissioned. The full 234 MW is leased to Nscale“Crytptomining at the site has been decommissioned. AI cloud firm Nscale, spun out of crypto firm Arkon Energy, is leasing the site for 10 years in a $2 billion deal”News report · Oct. 2026 · grade C
- Utility service: 89 MW“Nscale is also leasing a further 89MW from 2027”News report · Oct. 2026 · grade C
- Ionic is seeking to expand the Barstow/Cedarvale site to 700 MW total energized capacity by the end of 2027; Expansion is sought, not delivered.“Ionic is also seeking to expand the Barstow site to 700MW by the end of 2027”News report · Oct. 2026 · grade C
- interconnection queue (ERCOT): provisional Base Load classification granted“The 700 MW figure represents aggregate site demand rather than critical IT load, contracted customer capacity or energized load”News report · Sept. 2026 · grade C
- County code: 48475“we committed to providing Nscale with the full amount of the 234 megawatts ("MW") of current energy capacity at our Ward County property”News report · July 2026 · grade C
- Building count: 4“The reborn Ionic energized the first of four 50MW buildings at the Barstow site in August 2024, energizing the second building in October that year”News report · Feb. 2026 · grade C
Money and contracts (4)
- Announced: Oct. 14, 2025“today announced a landmark lease agreement (the “Agreement”) with Nscale, a vertically integrated AI cloud provider, for Ionic Digital’s Cedarvale facility in Barstow, Texas (“Cedarvale”)”Company · Oct. 2025 · grade A
- data center lease (triple-net): Full facility: 234 MW current capacity (plus 89 MW from 2027 under the lease tranches) 2000000000 USD“The Agreement is structured as a 10-year, triple-net lease with total contracted revenues of approximately $2 billion”Company · Oct. 2025 · grade B
- A February 2026 amendment to the Nscale lease reportedly raises total contracted revenues from ~$2B toward $2.6B (press summary of Ionic's disclosures).“$2 billion for the Ionic Digital lease covering the Cedarvale data center in Texas, with a February amendment potentially raising the total to $2.6 billion”News report · Oct. 2026 · grade C
- land purchase: Undeveloped Barstow site acquisition by Ionic's predecessor 14000000 USD“Ionic predecessor Celsius acquired the then-undeveloped Barstow site from Core Scientific in September 2023, for $14 million”News report · Feb. 2026 · grade C
Site and other (1)
- Campus name: Ionic Digital Cedarvale (Nscale Ward County)“for Ionic Digital's Cedarvale facility in Barstow, Texas ("Cedarvale")”Company · Oct. 2025 · grade B
Imagery and records: Satellite imagery: Sentinel-2 (ESA Copernicus).