Polaris Forge 1

Project of Applied Digital

Kind

campus

Location

9685 87th Ave SE, Ellendale, ND

County

Dickey County

State/region

ND

Country

US

Status

partially operational as of October 16, 2026

Where it stands

Polaris Forge 1 in Ellendale reached 250 MW of operational critical IT load across two buildings and 10 data halls when the second 75 MW phase of Building 2 became ready for service on October 1, 2026. A third 150 MW building is under construction, funded by $1.59 billion of 7% notes, toward the 400 MW campus leased to CoreWeave. The separate 180 MW Ellendale blockchain hosting facility is a different site and is not counted here.

250 MW in service · 150 MW under construction · 400 MW planned

Assessed October 18, 2026 from the newest filings, releases and reporting that name this project (newest relied on: October 16, 2026).

Capacity

What has actually been delivered, against what has been promised. Each figure links to the statement it came from.

Who has claimed this site

Capacity commitments in the order they were announced. A commitment that ended shows why.

Claims about this project

Site intelligence

Applied Digital / Ellendale Data Center

High

Dickey County, ND

46.0134, -98.5733

Approximate address 2C7G+9M Ellendale, ND, USA Reverse-geocoded from the candidate centroid; not a permit-confirmed parcel address.

Conclusion so far Operating: the site is lit at night like a running facility. · confidence 75%

Running: night-time lights at the site ran 10.31x the surrounding area (10 of 11 clear nights, 2026-07-05 to 2026-10-04); surface temperature +0.5 K against its surroundings (8 pass(es), 2026-07-14 to 2026-10-17). Based on 55 clear observation(s) from 2026-06-21 to 2026-10-19.

What would change this: Lights going dark over several clear nights.

Latest clear imagery: Google 2026-10-18 · ECOSTRESS thermal 2026-10-17 · Sentinel-2 2026-10-16 · radar 2026-10-13 · Landsat 2026-10-10 · night lights 2026-10-04 · NAIP 2023-06-20

Newest clear images107 clear image date(s)

How we located this site

60/100 (high): footprint location 40 + 1 independent source family 10 + OSM feature named for the project 10

1. Starting point (the project's stated locality) 2026-10-19
   9685 87th Ave SE, Ellendale, ND → 46.00614, -98.56874 (street)
2. Located from a published address 2026-10-19
   9685 87th Ave SE, Ellendale, ND → 46.00614, -98.56874 (street)
3. Located from a published address 2026-10-19
   Applied Digital / Ellendale Data Center → 46.01339, -98.57331 (footprint), 0.9 km from seed
4. OpenStreetMap features nearby 2026-10-19
   1 named match(es)

Recent changes

• 2026-10-10 vs 2026-09-09: clearing or grading visible — Over the 31-day interval, Landsat surface reflectance shows decreased vegetation (NDVI −0.163) and increased built-up/bare-surface signal (NDBI +0.150), consistent with clearing or grading, with a concurrent NDWI increase (+0.095) that may reflect exposed moist soil or surface water.
• 2026-04-10 vs 2026-03-16: new roof or pavement visible
• 2025-07-12 vs 2025-06-18: vegetation recovery visible
• 2026-01-12 vs 2025-12-03: new roof or pavement visible
• 2025-12-15 vs 2025-11-30: new roof or pavement visible

Satellite imagery on this page is drawn from the Google Earth satellite basemap, USDA NAIP aerial photography (~1 m/pixel), ESA Sentinel-2 multispectral (10 m, with per-date cloud masks), NASA / USGS Landsat 8/9 (30 m, plus surface temperature), ESA Sentinel-1 radar (all-weather, night), NASA ECOSTRESS thermal (~70 m), and NASA Black Marble night lights (500 m, daily). Each image is dated, labelled by source and pixel resolution, and downloadable at its native size; cloudy dates are kept and marked rather than hidden. New scenes are pulled daily as each provider publishes them.