Lighthouse — Port Washington
Port Washington, Wisconsin Under construction
Public agency records add to the developer and tenant statements. Cooling promises, permits and future results from running the site are different kinds of evidence.
- Developer
- Vantage Data Centers
- Operator
- Vantage Data Centers / Oracle cloud services
- Tenant or customer
- Oracle, OpenAI
- Stage
- Under construction, as of September 17, 2026
- Records as of
- November 11, 2026
- Scope
- A campus
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) describes construction. Oracle’s update of September 17, 2026 still describes operations expected in the future. Neither record shows full power delivery or commercial service.
Sources: Wisconsin DNR, Port Washington proposal and issued permits, June 12, 2026; Oracle / Vantage, September 2026 Lighthouse project update, September 17, 2026.
Water
Does the disclosed design cool the whole campus this record covers without evaporating water?
YesCompany statement
Oracle says the cooling does not evaporate water (“non-evaporative”). It says the cooling uses a closed loop (pipes that send the same liquid around again and again). This is a company statement about the design. It is not a result measured in operation.
Source: Oracle, Port Washington data center facts, January 2026.
Is a number public for how much water the site or campus needs or consumes?
YesCompany statement
The city’s release of March 19, 2026 gives a forecast for a day when water use is highest (a “peak day”). The forecast is about 22,000 gallons. Separately, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) records a daily demand of 22,000 gallons. The applicant stated that figure. The PSC record sets it apart from fire-flow capacity, the water flow needed to fight a fire. These are planning figures, not use measured by a meter.
Sources: City of Port Washington, City amendment of construction hours and project financing update, March 19, 2026; Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Port Washington water main: docket 4780-CW-105, July 2026.
Power
Is clean power accounting for this project public, and does it clearly state the matching period?
Not knownCompany statement
Oracle’s page, current as of January 2026, says 70% of the campus’s energy “will come from zero-emission sources”. Oracle and Vantage issued an update on September 17, 2026. It says more than 50% of the power capacity “is expected to come from carbon-free energy”. Power capacity is the most power at one moment. The two figures are shares of different totals. The update says the rest of the energy “will be matched with renewable energy purchases”. It gives no time span for that match. Vantage’s campus page said the remaining energy would be matched “to achieve a 100% match every year”. That page now returns “404 page not found”. The Internet Archive holds a copy dated October 23, 2026. All three are company statements about future supply for a campus still being built. None reports a matched result for any year or any hour.
Sources: Oracle, Port Washington data center facts, January 2026; Oracle / Vantage, September 2026 Lighthouse project update, September 17, 2026; Vantage Data Centers, Lighthouse campus design and power disclosure, accessed November 10, 2026.
Generators
Is a final air permit for this project public in the listed records?
YesAdopted requirement
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) lists permits for 45 diesel emergency generators. They are final construction permit 25-MIN-094 and operation permit 24618528A-F01. Both were issued on June 12, 2026. These are air permits, which set the pollution rules a site must follow. Having them does not mean zero emissions.
Source: Wisconsin DNR, Port Washington proposal and issued permits, June 12, 2026.
Noise
Do the listed records show enforceable noise limits, as numbers, for the site when it runs?
Not knownOfficial record
The city adopted limits on outdoor construction hours, starting on April 18, 2026. These are conditions on construction. They are not sound limits, stated as a number, for the site in operation. The listed records do not show limits of that kind.
Source: City of Port Washington, City amendment of construction hours and project financing update, March 19, 2026.
Costs
Do public records show an adopted tariff or agreement that says who pays the project’s power costs?
YesAdopted requirement
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) oversees utilities. Its Final Decision of May 21, 2026 adopts tariffs. A tariff sets a utility’s rates and terms of service. Customers with forecast loads above 100 megawatts (MW) must use these tariffs. A megawatt measures the power a customer draws at one moment. The tariffs set a first term of 15 years. They set minimum charges for transmission demand, which is demand on the high-voltage lines that move power. They add resource obligations (duties to sign up for power supply). They also add credit support (money or a guarantee put up to back payment). WEC Energy Group, a utility company, filed an update for investors in September 2026. It describes the campus that Vantage Data Centers is developing in Port Washington. It says Oracle “has met the financial security requirements”. Transmission costs are still divided by “load-ratio share”, which means by each customer’s share of the load. The decision does not require transmission costs to be collected upfront. The listed records do not include signed service agreements for the campus or actual bills. This shows an adopted framework for dividing costs (a “cost-allocation framework”). It does not show that all risk to other customers (ratepayers) is removed.
Sources: Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Final Decision: Very Large Customer and Bespoke Resources tariffs, 6630-TE-113, May 21, 2026; WEC Energy Group, WEC September 2026 investor update: tariff terms and Port Washington financial security, September 2026.
Promises
Does a public record show a local land-use decision?
YesOfficial record
The city’s records show approval of the building, site and operations plan on August 28, 2025. They also show a change (an “amendment”) on March 19, 2026. It limits construction hours. Other approvals are separate.
Sources: City of Port Washington, Planning department update of September 16, 2025, September 16, 2025; City of Port Washington, City amendment of construction hours and project financing update, March 19, 2026.
What is public
Is there a public disclosure or a government record about this project?
YesOfficial record
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) keeps a project page. The page has environmental and permit records.
Source: Wisconsin DNR, Port Washington proposal and issued permits, June 12, 2026.
Are measured environmental results for the site or campus public, with the dates they cover?
Does not applyOfficial record
The campus is at the construction stage. Measured results from running the site do not apply at this stage.
Source: Wisconsin DNR, Port Washington proposal and issued permits, June 12, 2026.
Limits of these records
- Energy percentages, promises to return more water than the campus consumes (“water positive”) and job forecasts are claims about the future. Capacity (the most power at one moment), yearly energy and hourly supply must not be mixed up.
- DNR approval covers the specific things named in the permits. It does not certify that the whole campus is clean for the environment.
- The tenant relationships are described in public. The listed records do not include the contracts or the full chain of ownership.
- Electricity tariffs, tax-increment financing (repaying costs from growth in local property taxes), water infrastructure and transmission are different cost questions. The city describes about $175 million of infrastructure spending as paid upfront. It describes that spending as paid back through a tax incremental district (TID), the area this financing covers. The spending should not be treated as a gift with no conditions. The electricity decision does not show that all transmission costs are assigned directly to this campus.
Sources
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Port Washington data center facts
The page explicitly dates its information to January 2026 and identifies forward-looking statements.
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Planning department update of September 16, 2025
This address returned “Access Denied” on November 11, 2026. The Internet Archive holds a copy dated December 10, 2025. That copy holds the planning update of September 16, 2025.
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City amendment of construction hours and project financing update
Two-page city news release in PDF form. It describes conditions on construction hours, upfront infrastructure costs paid back through a tax incremental district (TID), and a peak-day water forecast.
This address returned “Access Denied” on November 11, 2026. The Internet Archive holds an identical copy of the file, dated July 10, 2026.
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Lighthouse campus design and power disclosure
Vantage’s campus page returned “404 page not found” on November 11, 2026. The Internet Archive holds a copy dated October 23, 2026. That copy says “the remaining energy required will be matched with renewable energy purchases”. It says this is “to achieve a 100% match every year”.
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Oracle project index and Stargate partner announcement
The index identifies the Wisconsin Stargate announcement with OpenAI, Oracle and Vantage. The developer, operator and tenant roles name public project participants. They do not show lease terms.
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Final Decision: Very Large Customer and Bespoke Resources tariffs, 6630-TE-113
PSC REF 591873, 65-page final decision. See printed pages 24–29 for transmission, 33–44 for resources and credit support, and 53–58 for ordered conditions. This is the final written decision, not the April preliminary press release.
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WEC September 2026 investor update: tariff terms and Port Washington financial security
Slides 10 and 18. The utility says Oracle has met the financial security requirements “which are in line with the PSCW requirements”. PSCW is short for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Slide 18 is about the campus in Port Washington. The filing sits on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That does not make it a regulator’s finding or an independent check.