New Castle County, Delaware, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on March 11, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.
New Castle County, Delaware, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on February 4, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is in force.
The records read: "New Castle County Council passed 12-0 (with one absent) first-of-their-kind data center regulations after 7 months of debate. Requires 1,000-foot buffer from residential zones (reducible to 500 ft with noise study), bans open-loop water… (datacentertracker.org)." "In New Castle County, Delaware, Starwood Digital Ventures proposed 'Project Washington,' a $10 billion, 1.2GW datacenter on 580 acres near Delaware City. The facility would consume as much power as approximately 1 million homes, nearly… (datacentertracker.org)."
Details
| Action | Class | Status | Date | MW threshold | Scope | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning exclusion | restriction | enacted | March 11, 2026 | county-wide | datacentertracker.org | |
| Zoning exclusion | restriction | in force | February 4, 2026 | county-wide | datacentertracker.org |
Jurisdiction type: county. County: New Castle County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.
Elsewhere in New Castle County
Delaware context
Delaware has 3 documented local actions across 2 jurisdictions in this snapshot. There is no statewide restriction, incentive rollback, or large-load tariff on record for Delaware in this snapshot.
A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.