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WI — State Policy Updated 2026-07-17

Wisconsin

1) Incentive programs

2) Restrictions and moratoriums

  • No statewide moratorium enacted as of July 17, 2026. The statewide moratorium pair, AB 1099/SB 1061, would have created a moratorium on data centers but failed to pass on March 23, 2026. Wisconsin Legislature AB 1099, 2026-03-23; Wisconsin Legislature SB 1061, 2026-03-23
  • Madison moratorium active: Madison enacted a one-year temporary moratorium on zoning approvals for new principal-use data centers or telecommunications centers larger than 10,000 square feet; the city held a June 3, 2026 public information meeting on authority, regulatory tools, research, impacts, and the draft-policy timeline. City of Madison, 2026-06-03
  • Dane County moratorium approved: Dane County introduced an 18-month hyperscale data center moratorium in May; the County Board approved it on June 4, 2026 for towns under county zoning authority, running to December 2027, and County Executive Melissa Agard signed 2026 Res. 039 on June 8. Dane County, 2026-05-26; Isthmus, 2026-06-05; WisPolitics, 2026-06-08
  • Additional enacted county moratoriums: Manitowoc County unanimously approved an 18-month permitting moratorium on April 28; Door County adopted a 12-month pause covering data centers and battery-storage systems on May 26; Grant County adopted an up-to-12-month pause for hyperscale-data-center zoning permits on June 16; La Crosse County approved an 18-month moratorium 26-2 on June 18; and Shawano County unanimously approved a 12-month pause on June 24 that applies only to unincorporated towns under county zoning. Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-04-30; Door County Board agenda and ordinance, 2026-05-26; NEW Media, 2026-06-05; Grant County Resolution 2026-14, 2026-06-16; Wisconsin Watch, 2026-06-22; WIZM, 2026-06-18; NEW Media, 2026-06-26
  • Additional enacted municipal moratoriums: Hampden adopted Data Center Temporary Moratorium Ordinance 2026-18 on May 26; several Grant County towns adopted interim restrictions as opposition to the Cassville proposal spread; Greenville approved a one-year moratorium on primary-use data-center facilities of at least 10,000 square feet on June 8; New Denmark adopted a one-year moratorium on June 8; and Superior approved a one-year pause on June 16. Wrightstown separately approved a moratorium lasting until after its August advisory referendum. Town of Hampden, 2026-05-26; Wisconsin Watch, 2026-06-22; Grand Chute Gazette, 2026-07-03; Town of New Denmark, 2026-06-08; City of Superior Common Council agenda, 2026-06-16; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-06-17; WBAY, 2026-06-16
  • Green County moratorium: After a July 13 public hearing and unanimous committee recommendation, the Green County Board voted 30-1 on July 14 to enact a 12-month moratorium on data-center development in areas under county zoning; county officials reported no pending application when the proposal was introduced. Green County, 2026-07-01; Monroe Times, 2026-07-17
  • Pending local proposals were not yet operative county- or citywide bans at the cutoff: Middleton had drafted a 12-month moratorium for principal-use facilities over 10,000 square feet. Milwaukee’s proposed three-tier zoning framework, which would prohibit facilities over 60,000 square feet, advanced a technical review on June 15 but was removed from the June 29 Plan Commission agenda. Winnebago County officials agreed to pursue a 12-month moratorium, but no final county enactment was located. Oneida County’s planning committee unanimously advanced a one-year moratorium on July 9 for full County Board consideration in August. Cottage Grove’s Plan Commission voted on July 15 to approve a one-year pause, while Village Board action remained outstanding. On July 14, Oshkosh adopted a resolution directing staff to draft a temporary moratorium ordinance; that resolution initiated drafting rather than itself enacting the moratorium. City of Middleton, 2026-06-09; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via AOL, 2026-06-15; City of Milwaukee Plan Commission, accessed 2026-07-17; WTAQ, 2026-06-17; WXPR, 2026-07-10; WKOW, 2026-07-16; WHBY, 2026-07-15
  • Cassville zoning ban: In April 2026, Town of Cassville residents voted 44-0 to ban data centers and block an anonymous billion-dollar proposal; the ordinance prohibits data centers for up to two years and restricts land-use changes without town board approval, after residents weighed claimed benefits of 50 jobs and more than $5.5 million in annual property tax revenue against the loss of about 500 acres in the Driftless Area. Wisconsin Watch, 2026-04-29
  • Brown County did not adopt a countywide moratorium: The Brown County Planning, Development and Transportation Committee chose not to act on a proposed county data-center moratorium on June 2, 2026 after officials said state law did not allow a county-level moratorium on large-scale projects and directed opponents to towns, villages, and state legislators. WBAY, 2026-06-02
  • Port Washington incentive referendum: Port Washington voters approved an April 7, 2026 referendum, with about 66% support, requiring voter approval for certain future large development incentives/TIDs; the measure does not alter the already-approved data center TID and remained subject to litigation risk. Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-04-08; Wisconsin Watch, 2026-04-16
  • Environmental constraints — water withdrawals: Large water withdrawals may implicate DNR high-capacity well approval under Wis. Stat. § 281.34, but Microsoft and DNR officials said in May 2026 that Mount Pleasant’s projected direct water use is far below Great Lakes Compact regional-review thresholds. Wisconsin Legislature, accessed 2026-06-10; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-05-26

3) Local governance / preemption

4) Legislative activity (2024–2026)

5) Notable projects / operators

  • Microsoft (Racine County / Mount Pleasant): Microsoft announced on June 23 that construction of its first Fairwater facility was complete and that the data center was fully operational, with nearly 550 full-time employees on site. A second facility remained under construction for a planned 2028 completion, when Microsoft expects roughly 800 employees across the two facilities; the company estimates $4.7 billion in local construction spending from 2024 through 2028. Microsoft, 2026-06-23
  • Vantage / Oracle / OpenAI (Port Washington Lighthouse campus): Vantage’s Port Washington campus is tied to Oracle and OpenAI’s Stargate expansion, is under construction, and is described by Vantage as a 672-acre, four-building, 2.5 million-square-foot campus with 902 MW of critical IT load and a 2028 completion target. DNR issued construction and initial operation permits for 45 diesel emergency generators and a supplemental environmental analysis on June 12. Sierra Club, represented by Midwest Environmental Advocates, sued DNR on July 10, alleging that the agency violated Wisconsin environmental-review law by issuing permits after an environmental analysis rather than preparing a full environmental impact statement; the claim remained pending as of July 17. Vantage Data Centers, 2025-10-22; Vantage Data Centers, accessed 2026-07-17; Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 2026-06-12; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-07-10
  • Meta (Beaver Dam): Meta’s Beaver Dam data center remained under construction in 2026, and the PSC approved a modified Alliant Energy electric service agreement for the project on May 7 while requiring Alliant to file a stand-alone large-load tariff for future data center customers. Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, 2026-05-07; Wisconsin Watch, 2026-05-07
  • Oppidan / CLOP (Beaver Dam edge data center): Beaver Dam shared March 2026 details for a proposed 90,000-square-foot edge data center by Oppidan Investment Company/CLOP Madison WI LLC, with an estimated $40 million minimum taxable value, about $320,000 per year in direct city revenue, 15 full-time jobs, no TIF incentive, and no NDA; the City Council approved key measures in April. City of Beaver Dam, 2026-03-02; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-04-17
  • Cassville / Grant County proposal appears defunct: The anonymous proposal was described as a $1 billion-$2 billion, 400-500 MW facility near the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line. After the Town of Cassville adopted its April restrictions, Wisconsin Watch reported on June 22 that developers stopped communicating with participating landowners and local officials and that the deal had fallen apart; no formal cancellation document or replacement application was identified. Wisconsin Watch, 2026-04-29; Wisconsin Watch, 2026-06-22
  • Beloit / Turtle — Project Cornmaze: Panattoni replaced Cambrin as developer of the preliminary campus spanning more than 430 acres in the towns of Beloit and Turtle. At a June 22 presentation, the developer described a roughly $1 billion, four-building campus and projected approximately 1,000 construction jobs at peak and 50-100 permanent jobs; no site plan, permit application, or final local approval had been issued by the cutoff. Panattoni, accessed 2026-07-17; WIFR, 2026-06-22
  • Wisconsin Rapids papermill redevelopment: PCH WI Holdings and PNK Group applied on April 29 to redevelop the former Verso paper mill as a data-center campus. The city had adopted data-center zoning standards on April 14, postponed a May 4 conditional-use hearing to review the late application, and had not scheduled a replacement hearing or approved the permit by July 17. The application identifies an initial approximately 40 MW phase targeted for 2027. City of Wisconsin Rapids conditional-use application, 2026-04-29; City of Wisconsin Rapids, accessed 2026-07-17
  • Menomonie / Balloonist remained possible, not canceled: Menomonie’s June 30 update clarified that the city paused TID negotiations in September 2025 but did not stop the proposed $1.6 billion project; Balloonist bought the annexed land and contacted staff again in June. The city approved an I-4 data-center zoning district in January 2026 and was drafting added light, noise, water, equipment-setback, landscaping, and reclamation standards for introduction in August. Balloonist would still need to seek I-4 rezoning after the amendment process. City of Menomonie, 2026-06-30
  • Additional pipeline signals: WEC Energy Group said it was discussing additional hyperscale data-center opportunities and hoped for another announcement in fall 2026; PSC Commissioner Kristy Nieto said there were 12 other data center plans in Alliant’s service territory; and WPR reported Cloverleaf Infrastructure was eyeing northeast Wisconsin for an AI data center. Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-05-07; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-05-12; Wisconsin Public Radio, 2026-05-19

Notes on sources and method

  • Primary sources prioritized: Wisconsin Legislature bill pages, DOR guidance, Wisconsin statutes, PSC press releases, and PSC highlighted-case pages were used for law, incentive, and utility-regulatory claims.
  • News sources used for current local/project status: WPR, Wisconsin Watch, local government records, and project/company pages were used where primary records were unavailable, blocked, or less current for status through July 17, 2026.