Is the Sweetwater site operating?

The substation is energized and tied to ERCOT; the data halls are being built and commissioned in phases, and power ramps with them. It's a construction site with the lights on.

How is this different from IREN Childress?

Same operator, different campus. Childress is 750 MW and operating, with four Microsoft halls being delivered this year. Sweetwater is the new 2 GW build. They're about three hours apart.

Do you have rooms in Sweetwater today?

We're placing rooms in Sweetwater and Roscoe now. Text your dates and headcount and you get first call.

IREN Sweetwater · Nolan County

Energized.
Now the halls.

On May 1, 2026 IREN connected the Sweetwater 1 substation to the ERCOT grid: 1.4 gigawatts on 1,300 acres off FM 611. Power ramps as the data halls are built and commissioned, one after another—which is the part that needs people.

Energized · halls in build

Full kitchens
On-site laundry
Truck parking
Weekly rates

A new high-voltage substation at dawn with transmission towers running to the horizon — **1.4 GW** energized May 1, 2026

Where the build is

The schedule, as published.

2025
Site prep; transformers and switchgear procured
May 1, 2026
Sweetwater 1 energized on ERCOT
Now
Data hall construction and commissioning
2028
Sweetwater 2 energization

Site board

IREN Sweetwater

Operator: IREN
Sweetwater 1: 1.4 GW · 1,300 acres · energized
Sweetwater 2: 500 acres · energizes 2028
Total: 2 GW across 2,200 acres
Right now: data hall construction & commissioning

Get first call

Rooms near Sweetwater 1 open as the job ramps.

Text us your dates and headcount. When a room comes on in Sweetwater or the towns around it, you hear first—no deposit, no list to sign up for, just a text thread with a person who knows the job.

Call or text us

(432) 777-3177

Text your dates Call

Moving a crew? Request a crew quote and we'll block rooms for the roster.

The job

Wind country gets a data center

Also known as Sweetwater 1 · Sweetwater 2 · Iris Energy Sweetwater · Nolan County data center

Sweetwater has been an energy town for a long time—first oil, then the biggest wind build in the country across Nolan County. IREN's Sweetwater 1 is the next chapter: a 1,300-acre AI campus whose high-voltage substation was energized and tied to ERCOT on May 1, 2026, close to its April target.

Energization is the starting gun, not the finish. Power at Sweetwater 1 ramps 'progressively in line with the phased construction and commissioning of data centers'—IREN's words—so the mechanical, electrical and controls crews arrive now and stay through the phases. Sweetwater 2, a 500-acre second site, is slated to energize in 2028; together the two make a 2 GW campus.

Sweetwater is a real town of about 10,600 with a Walmart, a hospital and an I-20 exit, so it has more rooms than most towns on this list—and Cipher's Barber Lake build is only twenty-eight miles west at Colorado City, drawing on the same supply. Weekly furnished rooms with kitchens are what we're placing here, in Sweetwater and Roscoe.

The drive

From Sweetwater.

Distances are road miles the way people out here quote them—by the highway, not the crow. Ask us if the commute is the deciding factor; we'll say honestly which town fits.

Sweetwater 1 off FM 611 south of I-20
Roscoe 8 mi W on I-20 rooms
Colorado City 28 mi W on I-20 Cipher Barber Lake
Abilene 40 mi E on I-20 airport
Snyder 40 mi N on US-84 rooms

Know before you come

Sweetwater, in practice.

The things crews ask us about Sweetwater before they book—shopping, roads, what's in town and what isn't.

The most services on this list

Walmart, a regional hospital and a technical college are all in town. You will not need Abilene for much.

I-20 both ways

Abilene is forty minutes east, Colorado City thirty west. Crews working both IREN and Cipher have used Sweetwater as the middle.

Roscoe when Sweetwater is full

Eight miles west, same interstate. We place rooms there too—say if you'd rather be out of town.

Also within reach

Other job sites near Sweetwater.

Straight-line miles, rounded. Road miles run longer.

Under construction · ≈25 mi

Cipher's Barber Lake

Colorado City, TX · Mitchell County

Under construction · ≈60 mi

Google's two Haskell campuses

Haskell, TX · Haskell County

Under construction · ≈65 mi

Vantage Frontier

Albany, TX · Shackelford County

All Texas job sites

Straight answers

What crews ask about Sweetwater 1.

Is the Sweetwater site operating?: The substation is energized and tied to ERCOT; the data halls are being built and commissioned in phases, and power ramps with them. It's a construction site with the lights on.
How is this different from IREN Childress?: Same operator, different campus. Childress is 750 MW and operating, with four Microsoft halls being delivered this year. Sweetwater is the new 2 GW build. They're about three hours apart.
Do you have rooms in Sweetwater today?: We're placing rooms in Sweetwater and Roscoe now. Text your dates and headcount and you get first call.

Moving a crew?

Seven or seventy—we’ll map the rooms to the job.

Grouped options, project billing, and one place to manage arrivals, extensions, and departures.

Get a crew quote