A large data center project planned for the former Century Aluminum smelter site in Hawesville could bring new investment and jobs to Hancock County, as local officials and residents continue weighing the benefits and concerns tied to the redevelopment.
TeraWulf Inc., a publicly traded digital infrastructure company, acquired the Hawesville site as part of a broader expansion announced in February. In that release, the company said the property includes more than 250 buildable acres and about 480 megawatts of existing power availability, making it attractive for large-scale data center development.
The Century Aluminum facility has been idle since 2022, when the company shut down the smelter because of economic conditions and laid off more than 600 workers.
Hancock County Judge-Executive Johnny Roberts said County Leaders initially hoped the smelter could reopen, but that focus shifted once it became clear the property would instead be sold and repurposed.
Roberts said the County had no role in the private sale of the property, which was already zoned for heavy industrial use, but did make two requests of TeraWulf after learning of the project.
“We don’t want to subsidize their business on the back of the ratepayers,” Roberts said. “And we asked them to hold a public town hall meeting where people could ask questions.”
He said the company complied with both requests.
Roberts said TeraWulf has told County leaders the Hawesville site will not be used for bitcoin mining, but instead for an artificial intelligence-focused data center.
“It’s an AI data center,” Roberts said. “It will be interesting to us when we find out who the end user is.”
That end user, sometimes called a hyperscaler, has not yet been publicly identified.
In an interview on CNBC Television, TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager said the Hawesville project is intended to meet fast-growing demand from major data center customers. He said the company sees the site as a near-term opportunity because of its immediate access to 480 megawatts of power and its central location. Prager said TeraWulf hopes to have a data center online there in the second half of 2027, and described the site as well-positioned to serve a customer quickly because of its existing energy infrastructure and scalability.
Prager also said on CNBC that there is “urgent demand” for the Hawesville site and that TeraWulf is in talks with several parties, but he did not identify a customer. He said the company prefers a hyperscaler customer and indicated TeraWulf would announce an end user once an agreement is signed.
Roberts said one reason the project drew interest is the same reason the aluminum smelter operated there for decades — the site already has access to major power infrastructure.
“The facility had 480 megawatts available … with the infrastructure that was available, we assume that was some of the attraction,” Roberts said.
Mike Baker, director of the Hancock County Industrial Foundation, has been involved in local discussions about the redevelopment. He said that existing infrastructure makes the Hawesville proposal different from many other data center projects.
“This was heavy industrial property already zoned heavy industrial,” Baker said. “There had been a major industry … operating on the site 24/7 for the last 50-plus years.”
Baker said the site’s existing power access also helps answer one of the biggest questions many communities have when data centers are proposed.
“They didn’t have to tax the grid to be able to operate,” Baker said.
Still, Roberts said local officials are continuing to study the possible impacts of the project, especially when it comes to power, water, and noise.
“We’re trying to educate ourselves on this whole process,” Roberts said. “This is new to us also.”
Roberts said TeraWulf has told local officials the facility’s water demand will be far lower than the former smelter’s. He said Century used roughly 550,000 gallons of processed water per day, while TeraWulf has indicated the data center would use about that much over several years.
“But for complete disclosure, I don’t know much about that business,” Roberts said. “We’re trying to learn things, too.”
Baker said County leaders have also been told the facility will use a closed-loop water system supplied by existing wells on the property, reducing the impact on municipal water systems.
“There’ll be very little impact, if any, on local water,” Baker said.
Officials said the project will not replace all of the jobs that were lost when Century idled the smelter, but they believe it could still provide a meaningful economic boost.
Roberts said the company has projected about 120 permanent jobs once the site is fully operational, along with approximately 1,000 construction jobs during the build-out phase.
Baker said those permanent positions are expected to be technical but trainable.
“You don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to hold one of those down,” Baker said.
He also said TeraWulf has already hired eight former on-site Century employees who had been monitoring the property, which he called an encouraging sign.
Both Roberts and Baker said the overall investment tied to the project could be substantial, though final figures have not yet been formally announced. Baker said the total has been discussed in the range of $3.7 billion.
Roberts said the most recent timeline he had heard called for operations to begin by late summer 2027, though he noted that could still change.
For now, County leaders say their role is largely to stay informed, share what they know with the public, and make sure the project does not unfairly burden local residents.
“Whatever power usage they have at that facility, they pay for that,” Roberts said. “We don’t expect our folks here in Hancock County to subsidize any of their process.”
Even with lingering questions, both local leaders said the project appears to offer a stronger long-term outcome than leaving the old smelter vacant.
“It’s much better than the alternative of that vacant smelter sitting there,” Baker said.
Roberts said officials will continue learning about the industry and evaluating what the project means for the county as plans move forward.
“I think it’s part of our job to educate ourselves on what this means,” he said. “We’re trying to learn, too.”
