Google said it will build its first data center in Wyoming and invest $17 billion in the state. The company announced partnerships with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP), and Related Digital.
Google said it will pay for all the power it uses and will cover infrastructure needs directly tied to the project’s growth. The company said the project is contracted with AEP to include a commercial-scale 702 megawatt fuel cell development with carbon capture and storage, which it described as the largest planned of its kind to date. Google said the fuel cells, made in the United States by Bloom Energy, convert natural gas to electricity through an electrochemical process intended to cut emissions and water use in producing energy for its data infrastructure.
The company said a large majority of the fuel cell project’s carbon emissions would be captured and permanently stored at Tallgrass’s Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub. Google said this effort follows its first U.S. carbon capture and storage (CCS) project announced last fall and brings its total contracted CCS capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt.
Google said it will also obtain power from natural-gas generators run by Tallgrass Energy and Black Hills Energy. The company said it is conducting a front-end engineering and design study to evaluate adding CCS technology to Tallgrass’s combined cycle turbines. Google described these steps as a novel approach to power data centers efficiently and to create pathways to cut emissions from natural gas generation.
Google said the Wyoming data center will be air-cooled to lessen demands on local water. The company also said it remains committed to local water replenishment efforts.
On community engagement, Google said it and its partners have held numerous meetings with state and local stakeholders. The company said it recently hosted a community meeting in downtown Cheyenne and met with more than 200 Laramie County residents to gather feedback. Google said it expects Laramie County and School District 1 to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in local property-tax revenue from the project. The company said its community investments will focus on K-12 education, workforce development, and efforts to accelerate Wyoming’s economy.
Google said it is providing targeted grants to local institutions to support STEM education, entrepreneurs, and skilled trades training across the state. The company said it held its first Community Day at the Cheyenne Children’s Museum. Google said it and its partners — Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, Related Digital, AEP, and Bloom Energy — are forming a Community Council to develop solutions to support Cheyenne as data center activity grows.
Google did not say when construction will start or when the data center will open. The announcement was posted Nov. 5 on the company’s website.