New to this? Read it in simple words
- Google plans to spend $17 billion on its first data centre in Wyoming.
- Google says it will pay for 100% of the power the site uses.
- Its power partner says those costs won’t shift to other customers.
- In a University of Wyoming poll, only 30% of residents backed more large AI data centres.
- Fuel cell
- A device that turns a fuel, here natural gas, into electricity through a chemical reaction.
- Carbon capture
- Catching the carbon dioxide a plant makes and storing it, so it doesn’t reach the air.
- Ballot measure
- A question that voters decide directly in an election.
Wyoming already has data centres near Cheyenne, but this one will be Google’s first in the state. In the US elections on November 3, voters sided with limits on data centres in 40 of 41 local ballot measures, Bloomberg reports, citing Ballotpedia.
The plan
Google says the data centre in Laramie County, near Cheyenne, is a $17 billion investment. It gave no time period for the spending.
Its partners are the pipeline company Tallgrass Energy, the utility Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP) and the developer Related Digital, Reuters reports. Bloom Energy will supply fuel cells.
Google says the data centre will be cooled by air, to reduce the strain on local water.
“This is not speculative. This is happening,” Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins told WyoFile.
Figures from Google, Black Hills’ filing and WyoFile. The power promise is Google’s own.
Who pays for the power
“We will pay for 100% of the power we use,” Google wrote. It also says it will cover the infrastructure needed because of its growth.
Black Hills, the utility, put this in writing. In a statement filed with US regulators on October 6, it said Google “bears all costs associated with serving the planned data center throughout the life of the project”. It added that those costs don’t shift to its existing customers.
Black Hills plans to spend $1.8 billion between 2027 and 2029 on 564 megawatts of new gas power that it will own.
More power will come from a planned 702-megawatt fuel cell plant. The fuel cells turn natural gas into electricity, and the carbon is to be captured and stored. Google calls it the largest planned development of its kind. AEP said last month that it planned to invest $4 billion in the project, Bloomberg reports.
Crusoe steps out
Crusoe, a data centre developer, first planned the site with Tallgrass. On November 6, it said Google had acquired its site in southeast Wyoming. Crusoe called this the completion of its early work on the site, the approvals and the power plan.
Google did not disclose how much it paid, TechCrunch reports.
In June, Bloomberg reported that Crusoe had been pushed aside after Google raised concerns about costs and timing. That report rests on unnamed people. Crusoe says it is the developer of another Google campus, under construction near Amarillo, Texas.
The local mood
Not everyone in Wyoming wants more data centres. In a University of Wyoming poll, only 30% of residents supported building more large AI data centres, WyoFile reports. Secretary of State Chuck Gray is among the officials who oppose them.
Google says the project will bring hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes. Google and its partners are also setting up a Community Council to help Cheyenne through its growth. Google hasn’t said who else will sit on it, or what it can decide.
The project should be finished in 2031, WyoFile reports, citing the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1
- 2
- 3Primary source · October 6, 2026Black Hills Corp. Executes Definitive Agreements to Serve Google’s Planned Data Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming Black Hills Corp. (SEC filing)
- 4Research · November 5, 2026Google Plans to Spend $17 Billion on Wyoming Data Center Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance
- 5Research · November 5, 2026Google plans $17 billion Wyoming data center amid rising threats of curbs Reuters via Yahoo Finance
- 6
- 7
The $17 billion, the power promise and the Community Council are Google’s own statements. Black Hills’ filing backs the cost promise, but Black Hills is Google’s partner. The account of Crusoe being pushed aside rests on unnamed sources.
Google plans $17B data centre in Wyoming, its first there. Silicon AI News, November 8, 2026. https://siliconainews.com/stories/google-wyoming-data-centre
Google’s $17 billion Wyoming data centre is a big investment, though voter limits and local opposition temper the mood. How we rate the mood
The mood shows how the news frames the event for the tech and AI world: as an opportunity (6 and above) or as a loss (below 5). It is not our verdict on who is right.