Investing in Wyoming’s infrastructure, energy and workforce

Today, we are announcing our first data center in the state of Wyoming, in partnership with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP), and Related Digital. Google is making a long-term, $17 billion investment in the Cowboy State, designed to deliver lasting benefits for Laramie County families and businesses.

Our commitment to responsible growth

We’re committed to partnering with communities to build data centers the right way. We will pay for 100% of the power we use, and when we build data centers, we’ll cover the infrastructure needs directly driven by our growth.

The project is contracted with AEP to feature a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale, 702 MW fuel cell development with carbon capture and storage (CCS) — the largest planned development of its kind to date. Fuel cells efficiently convert fuel, in this case natural gas, into electricity through a safe electrochemical reaction. The fuel cells for this project will be made in America by Bloom Energy and will help minimize emissions and water use in the production of energy for our data infrastructure.

The CCS technology will enable the capture and permanent geologic storage of a large majority of its carbon emissions at Tallgrass’s nearby Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub. This project builds on our first CCS project in the U.S. announced last fall, and brings our total contracted CCS capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt.

We are also sourcing power from gas generators operated by Tallgrass Energy and Black Hills Energy, and conducting a technical front-end engineering and design (FEED) study to evaluate fitting Tallgrass’s combined cycle turbines with CCS technology. Together, these efforts represent a novel approach to powering data centers efficiently, accelerating the commercialization of CCS, and creating pathways to reduce the carbon emissions associated with natural gas generation.

Water is another essential shared resource, and we remain deeply committed to using it responsibly and investing in local water replenishment efforts. Consistent with our water stewardship commitments for local communities, our Wyoming data center will be air-cooled to minimize strain on local water resources.

Investment in Cheyenne

We know being a part of the community means investing in the things that matter most to the people in it. Google and our partners have held numerous meetings, and are continuously engaging key stakeholders at the local and state level. Recently, we hosted a community meeting in downtown Cheyenne; we spoke to and met with more than 200 residents in Laramie County, gathering clear and constructive feedback on their priorities. Those include:

A holistic picture of the economic benefits of this project. We expect this project to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes for Laramie County and School District 1. This is in addition to our community investment plans, which will focus on initiatives in K-12 education, workforce development, and pathways to accelerate Wyoming’s economy.

Requests for more information on career and job skilling opportunities. Through targeted grants, Google is partnering with key local institutions championing STEM education, supporting local entrepreneurs, and expanding skilled trades training across the state. We already hosted our first Community Day at the Cheyenne Children’s Museum, and we look forward to sharing more about our community partnerships in the coming weeks.

Data center growth supporting communities. A key concern from the community meeting stretches beyond the boundaries of our own project — how data center growth is impacting Cheyenne as a community. Building on our existing engagement efforts, Google, Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, Related Digital, AEP, and Bloom Energy are standing up a Community Council designed to develop common-sense solutions to support Cheyenne through this phase of growth.

Data centers power the technology America relies on — everything from online banking, to digital maps and wayfinding, to hospitals and 911 systems. Building on Google’s 20-year track record of data center development, our promise is to show up today and tomorrow for Cowboy State residents. We are excited to put down roots in Wyoming and look forward to working closely with the community for decades to come.