New to this? Read it in simple words
  • AEP, a US power company, plans a $4 billion fuel cell plant near Cheyenne, Wyoming.
  • The 702-megawatt plant will sell its power to Google for 20 years.
  • Google is building a large data centre campus near Cheyenne.
  • The fuel cells run on natural gas without burning it; carbon capture is only a plan so far.
Words to know
Fuel cell
A device that turns fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction, without a flame.
Power purchase agreement
A long contract in which a buyer agrees to buy a plant’s electricity at set terms.
Carbon capture
Catching the carbon dioxide a plant gives off, so it doesn’t go into the air.

A fuel cell turns fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction, without a flame. On October 14, a US utility said it would build a large fuel cell plant to power Google in Wyoming.

The deal

American Electric Power (AEP) plans to invest about $4 billion in a 702-megawatt fuel cell plant near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Google will buy its power under a 20-year agreement.

The plant belongs to a company called Cheyenne Fuel Cell. AEP owns about 92% of it, and funds advised by Basalt Infrastructure Partners own nearly 8%.

Construction is planned to start in 2026, and the plant should be fully running by the end of 2028. Site work is already under way, AEP told Bloomberg.

Sources1345

Record
The plant, its owners, its fuel and its buyer, line by line.

AEP’s own plans of October 14; the low-emissions promise rests on carbon capture that is still a plan.

What powers it

Bloom Energy makes the fuel cells, under an earlier deal with AEP for up to 1 gigawatt. In January, AEP said it had agreed to buy fuel cells for about $2.65 billion for a plant near Cheyenne, for a buyer it did not name.

The cells make electricity from natural gas “without combustion”, AEP says, and the project “includes plans” to add carbon capture. AEP calls the result “near-zero-emissions power”, but gives no figures yet.

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Why Google wants it

AEP says the plant supports “Google’s growing energy needs in the greater Cheyenne area”. Google is building a 2.7-gigawatt data centre campus south of Cheyenne, due to be finished in 2031, DCD reports.

AEP has not said which Google site the power is for. The deal follows separate agreements between Google and Black Hills Corp. that took effect on September 30, AEP says.

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Sources

Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.

  1. 1
    Primary source · October 14, 2026AEP Advances Innovative Energy Solution for Google with 702MW of Bloom Fuel Cells American Electric Power (via PR Newswire)
  2. 2
    Primary source · January 8, 2026Form 8-K, Item 8.01: Other Events American Electric Power (SEC filing)
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
    Research · October 14, 2026American Electric Power to invest $4 billion in fuel cell project to power Google Reuters (via MarketScreener)
How we checked this story

The cost, size and dates are AEP’s own plans. Its “near-zero-emissions” promise depends on carbon capture that has no figures yet, and neither Google nor Bloom Energy has commented.

More on this story

Mood: 7.1 out of 10 · Moderately positive

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