Google announced its first planned data center in Wyoming on November 5, 2026, describing it as part of a $17 billion long-term investment in the state. The plan pairs a proposed natural-gas fuel-cell development with grid-connected service and resources managed through a private microgrid. Black Hills Corp.’s agreement provides the detail on the utility’s planned role and its separate generation investment. (Google’s announcement; Black Hills Corp.’s agreement details)
The planned power supply has several distinct parts
Google places the planned data center in Laramie County, near Cheyenne. Its announcement describes a 702-megawatt natural-gas fuel-cell development with carbon capture and storage (CCS), contracted with American Electric Power (AEP). Google says Bloom Energy will manufacture the fuel cells in the United States, and that the CCS plan would capture and permanently store underground a large majority of the development’s associated carbon emissions at Tallgrass Energy’s nearby Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub.
Google also says the project will source power from natural-gas generators operated by Tallgrass Energy and Black Hills Energy. It is studying the addition of CCS to Tallgrass combined-cycle turbines. The data center itself is planned to use air cooling, which Google says is intended to minimize strain on local water resources.
Black Hills Corp. describes another part of the arrangement: up to 590 MW of grid-connected service, plus management of about 2.1 gigawatts of Wyoming-based, third-party contracted resources through a private microgrid. A microgrid is a locally managed system for coordinating electricity resources. Black Hills describes the combined resource mix as 2.7 gigawatts, including reserve margins. That figure describes the planned supply portfolio, not measured electricity use by the data center.
Read each capacity figure as a separate part of the planned power arrangement, not as a measure of the facility’s actual consumption.
Black Hills’ $1.8 billion plan covers its own generation
Black Hills plans to invest $1.8 billion between 2027 and 2029 in 564 MW of company-owned natural-gas generation at the existing Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station site. The 564 MW figure is the equipment’s nameplate capacity, its rated maximum output. This is a utility generation investment, distinct from Google’s stated $17 billion long-term investment in Wyoming.
Black Hills said its agreements to serve the planned Cheyenne data center took effect September 30, 2026, and run through 2048. The company forecast that energy service would begin in late 2027, with the facility ramping to peak load in 2030.
What the companies say about costs to existing customers
Google says it will pay for all the power it uses and for infrastructure needs directly driven by its growth. Black Hills says its agreements and regulatory mechanisms are structured to keep costs associated with serving the planned data center from shifting to existing retail customers. The utility describes cost pass-through mechanisms, recovery of its generation investment over the contract term, early-termination provisions, and collateral or financial-assurance requirements. These are the companies’ stated commitments and contractual protections.
