Data Center Site Selection in Utah

Most of Utah’s data center demand lands in the service territory of Rocky Mountain Power, which does business in Utah for PacifiCorp.⁶ Before 2025, there was no specific process for singling out a large data center load: the utility had to fold it into the general rate calculations it files with the Utah Public Service Commission.¹¹ That meant a single campus could move costs for every other customer.

The scale of the requests explains the urgency. In its 2025 integrated resource plan, PacifiCorp left data center loads out of its base modeling and ran a sensitivity for all potential data center interconnection requests. Western Resource Advocates’ reading of that case puts the added load at roughly 6,000 MW in 2030 and 7,000 MW in 2035.⁷

The Salt Lake Tribune has reported that Rocky Mountain Power does not have the capacity to meet the surge in demand, and that developers have turned to generating their own electricity, mostly with natural gas, which raises air quality concerns along the Wasatch Front.¹² For a site screen, that makes the supply question as important as the wires question. Our guide to on-site generation and bridge power explains the trade-offs.

SB 132, sponsored by Sen. Scott Sandall, was described by its sponsor as letting the utility step out of the regulated monopoly space and contract directly with large loads.¹¹ The bill was introduced with a 50 MW threshold, but the enacted framework applies to loads of 100 MW or more within five years.¹¹¹ It was enacted in March 2025 and codified at Utah Code 54-26-101 and following, with PSC rules in R746-318 effective January 1, 2026.²

The core mechanics are a 90-day evaluation by the utility and an exit ramp: if Rocky Mountain Power cannot meet the demand without major investment, the data center can seek its own energy supply.¹ Competitive suppliers have pressed the PSC to make that option workable. Calpine, for example, supported SB 132’s goal of introducing competitive supply for large loads but argued the draft rules left out key pieces, including transmission and distribution access for generation providers.¹³

The first contract has now been through the process. Rocky Mountain Power and an unnamed customer signed a large-load service contract on January 20, 2026, covering a request of more than 100 MW.² The utility, the Division of Public Utilities and the Office of Consumer Services filed a settlement on March 13, and the PSC issued an order approving the settlement on April 10, 2026.⁶ Our guide to large-load tariffs and electric service agreements covers the contract terms to expect.

Eagle Mountain, in northwest Utah County, has become one of the state’s main data center clusters. Meta has operated there since 2021 and, with a 2026 expansion, has raised its Utah investment to more than $3 billion.⁸ QTS has committed $6 billion to its Eagle Mountain campus.³ Tract announced in January 2024 that it had acquired 668 acres in the city for future data center campuses.¹⁴

Water is the local flashpoint. QTS says its campus will use a closed-loop cooling system that, once fully operational, will not draw on local water for cooling, so water use is largely an initial fill plus domestic uses.³ Experts quoted in the same reporting noted that in a high-desert climate, backup systems and inefficiencies can still need water, and that water used to generate the electricity is often overlooked.³

For a new Eagle Mountain site, the practical questions are whether the city’s infrastructure and water commitments still have room after the existing campuses, how far the parcel is from Rocky Mountain Power transmission, and whether the project will be served by the utility or by a SB 132 supply arrangement. A parcel that sits next to a hyperscaler may share its new lines, or it may be competing with it for the next block of capacity.

The Salt Lake Valley offers a different product: smaller, denser colocation and enterprise campuses close to fiber and population. In West Jordan, Novva is building a roughly 100-acre campus. Its first phase began operating in 2023, and $2 billion in financing from J.P. Morgan and Starwood Property Trust funds two more phases of 318,000 square feet and 72 MW each, for more than 1 million square feet and 175 MW at completion.⁴

Campuses of this size fall in the range where a load can cross SB 132’s 100 MW threshold over its five-year ramp, so phasing and the ramp schedule matter.¹ Infill sites in the valley usually screen well on fiber and labor but face tighter land, higher prices and closer neighbors than Utah County or rural sites.

Larger rural projects are also emerging. In Delta, Millard County, Creekstone Energy is developing its Delta Gigasite data center campus on about 1,143 acres, an example of the gigawatt-scale, generation-led model that SB 132’s own-supply option encourages.¹⁵

Utah now regulates data center water use directly. HB 76, the Data Center Water Transparency Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Jill Koford and Sen. Scott Sandall, passed in the 2026 session.⁵¹⁰ The bill came out of a recommendation by the Legislative Water Development Commission, and it focuses on disclosure rather than limits: lawmakers chose to require more transparency on water consumption in 2026 while leaving the tax side of data center policy unaddressed.¹⁰ As enrolled, it sets three duties:

• On or after July 1, 2026, the operator of a new large data center must notify its water provider in writing at least 90 days, and no more than 360 days, before construction begins.⁵
• Before approving a land-use application for a new large data center, the city or county must notify state water agencies, including the Division of Water Quality, and the water provider.⁵
• Each new large data center must file an annual water-use report with the Division of Water Rights.⁵

The bill’s duties attach to a “large data center,” defined by an annual water withdrawal threshold of 75 acre-feet, alongside a building size test; read the enrolled text for the exact definitions and confirm with counsel whether a project is covered.⁵ Water still has to be secured: a reporting law does not create supply, and the local notice step means water questions now surface during the land-use review itself, before a city or county acts on the application.⁵ Our guides to water rights and groundwater and closed-loop and waterless cooling explain the options, and the Mountain West guide compares Utah with its neighbors.

Utah’s data center sales and use tax exemption was revised in 2020 by SB 114. As described by the state’s economic development partners, it applies to data centers of 150,000 square feet or more, covers machinery, equipment and maintenance and repair parts, lets tenants that buy their own equipment qualify, and applies to data centers built after July 1, 2016.⁹ The state does not collect data on what the exemption costs, after reporting requirements were repealed nearly two decades ago, so its value is a recurring debate.¹⁰ Confirm eligibility with a Utah tax advisor; our sales tax exemptions by state guide compares Utah with other states.

1. 01Confirm the serving utility and whether the load will reach 100 MW within five years.¹
2. 02Ask Rocky Mountain Power how the request fits its resource plan, and plan for the 90-day review.¹⁷
3. 03Decide early whether utility service or an own-supply path is realistic, and test gas and transmission access.¹²
4. 04Map water supply and HB 76 notice dates into the schedule.⁵
5. 05Check sales tax eligibility for the actual owner, operator or tenant.⁹

Our methodology explains how we work through these questions, and you can get a site reviewed to test a specific parcel.