Data Center Site Selection in Wyoming

Wyoming is one of the country’s largest net energy suppliers. It produces about 12 times more energy than it consumes, ranks fourth among net energy suppliers after Texas, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, and has been the leading coal-producing state since 1988, supplying almost two-fifths of U.S. coal in 2024. Coal is still the largest source of in-state electricity, but wind generation has more than doubled since 2019 and reached about 23% of net generation in 2024.⁶

For a data center, that surplus is necessary but not sufficient. Much of the state is far from population, fiber and transmission, so activity has concentrated in two places: Cheyenne in the southeast, close to the Colorado Front Range, and the Evanston area in the southwest, served by Rocky Mountain Power. Our Mountain West regional guide compares Wyoming with its neighbors, and the Colorado guide covers the Denver side of the same corridor.

Most of Wyoming’s data center history runs through one tariff. Black Hills Energy’s Large Power Contract Service applies to new loads of 13,000 kW or greater, was approved by the Wyoming Public Service Commission in July 2016, and was developed with Microsoft.¹ Microsoft has operated data centers in Cheyenne since 2012.¹¹

The structure differs from a conventional large-load tariff. Instead of building new power plants for the customer, the utility buys energy on the market for it under a negotiated service agreement, with access to market-based rates and renewable resources. The customer pays 100% of the costs, including all power infrastructure and needed improvements.¹ Customer-owned generation on site, which the utility can dispatch, provides backup for the customer’s load, and the contract lets the utility interrupt delivery during an outage or a severe demand spike so that other customers stay a priority.¹¹

The model has scaled. In July 2025 Black Hills announced it would power Meta’s newest AI data center in Cheyenne using market energy procured under the same tariff, with service expected by 2026. The company reports a pipeline of more than 1 GW of data center demand from existing customers within 10 years, about 500 MW of it expected by the end of 2029.²⁷ The open question for new entrants is how much more market energy and dispatchable backup a single utility can arrange as campuses move from tens to hundreds of megawatts. The model’s reliance on customer-owned behind-the-meter backup also means generator permitting is part of every Cheyenne plan.

The newest Wyoming projects are an order of magnitude larger than the early Cheyenne data centers, and they are designed around their own generation. Two show the pattern.

Project Jade, south of Cheyenne

In July 2025 Crusoe and Tallgrass announced a 1.8 GW AI data center campus several miles south of Cheyenne near the Colorado line, designed to scale up to 10 GW and powered by natural gas plus future renewable development.¹²³ In 2026 Crusoe paused work “at the request of our customer” and then left the project.¹³⁸ Tallgrass, the remaining partner, said in June 2026 that the project, by then described as 2.7 GW, was going “full steam ahead,” that it was working directly with the data center client and that it was still building the adjacent gas-fired generation.¹⁴ Bloomberg reported that Crusoe’s talks with prospective anchor tenants, including Google, had stalled over cost.¹⁵ The lesson for landowners is that the power plant and the data center can follow separate paths, and the gas and generation rights may be the more durable asset.

Prometheus Hyperscale, near Evanston

In southwest Wyoming, the Uinta County Board of Commissioners unanimously granted a conditional use permit for Prometheus Hyperscale’s 506-acre campus, planned at an initial 1.25 GW with room to expand to 5 GW. The developer has said less than 10% of the plan depends on the grid: a 120 MW contract with Rocky Mountain Power and a 138 kV substation, with the rest from on-site and nearby sources.⁴ As of August 2026 the roughly $32 billion project was moving ahead as a legal challenge faded.¹⁶

Both projects suggest that in Wyoming, gigawatt scale usually means a gas lateral, an air permit and a generation plan, not only a utility queue position. Our guides to natural gas pipeline access and on-site generation and bridge power explain what to verify.

Cheyenne sits at about 6,100 feet with a semi-arid climate and an average annual temperature of about 46.5°F, according to NOAA data cited by Black Hills Energy. Cool, dry air lets facilities use outside-air or economizer cooling for much of the year, which lowers both energy use and water draw compared with warmer markets.¹⁷

The trade-offs run the other way in winter. Cold snaps raise heating and freeze-protection requirements for mechanical systems, generators and fuel, and they are also when regional demand peaks; the Cheyenne contract structure explicitly allows interruption during such events, which puts more weight on on-site backup.¹¹ High elevation also reduces air density, which affects generator and cooling equipment ratings, so equipment selection should be confirmed with the design engineer. Low humidity widens the window for evaporative assist where water is available, although many operators now prefer closed-loop cooling to keep water use and permitting simple. Our guide to climate, cooling and site selection covers the general method.

Wyoming exempts qualifying data center equipment from sales and use tax under a tiered program. The first tier requires a $5 million investment in capital infrastructure (building, engineering, site work) at a Wyoming location plus at least $2 million of data center equipment and software purchases in a calendar year; it covers computers, servers, storage, racking and cabling.⁹ A second tier, added in 2011, requires $50 million of capital infrastructure and the same $2 million equipment threshold, and extends the exemption to uninterruptible power supplies, backup generation, specialized cooling and air quality equipment.¹⁰ Minimum capital investment and job certifications apply.⁹

The legislature’s revenue committee reviews the exemption’s cost through periodic reports, so confirm the current statute and certification steps with the Department of Revenue and tax counsel. Our guide to data center sales tax exemptions by state compares Wyoming with other states.

Wyoming has not adopted a statewide large-load statute. In 2025 legislators drafted, but did not introduce, an “Extremely Large Electrical Loads” bill that would have required Public Service Commission review of new projects over 75 MW and oversight to keep the cost of serving them off residential bills.⁵ The idea is likely to return as gigawatt projects advance, and public concern about rates has grown alongside them.¹¹

The Cheyenne model is the state’s main answer so far: Black Hills says the large power contracts have kept existing customers insulated from rate impacts because data centers pay their own way.¹¹ Elsewhere in the state, terms depend on the serving utility, including Rocky Mountain Power and rural cooperatives, so check the utility service territory before assuming Cheyenne’s structure is available. Until the legislature acts, the practical gates are the utility contract and county land use approval, as Uinta County’s conditional use permit for the Prometheus campus showed.⁴

1. 01Identify the serving utility. In Black Hills territory, ask how a load of your size fits the Large Power Contract Service and its interruption terms.¹
2. 02Size on-site backup and confirm air permitting for it, since dispatchable customer generation is part of the Cheyenne model.¹
3. 03For loads above a few hundred megawatts, map gas supply and transmission and plan for some on-site generation, as recent gigawatt proposals have.³⁴
4. 04Confirm fiber routes toward Denver and Salt Lake City; see our guide to fiber connectivity.
5. 05Model the sales tax exemption tier you would qualify for and the job requirements.⁹
6. 06Ask what energy sources the utility can procure for you, including renewable resources, if your buyers have carbon targets.¹
7. 07Check county land use rules and hearing schedules; Uinta County approved the Prometheus campus through a public conditional use permit process.⁴

If you want an independent read on a specific tract, you can get a site reviewed, and our methodology explains how we weigh these factors.