Google plans $17 billion Wyoming data center powered in part by Bloom fuel cells with carbon capture

Google announced on November 5 that it is building its first data center in Wyoming, in Laramie County near Cheyenne, and described the project as a long-term $17 billion investment. In a post by Steve Walter, its vice president for global infrastructure and energy, the company named Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP), Related Digital and Bloom Energy as partners. Google did not give construction or opening dates.

A gas-fed fuel cell plant with carbon capture

A central piece of the power supply is a 702 MW fuel cell development that AEP is building, using fuel cells made in the United States by Bloom Energy. The cells generate electricity from natural gas through an electrochemical process rather than combustion. Google says carbon capture and storage will trap most of the project's emissions and send them for permanent underground storage at Tallgrass's nearby Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub, although it has not published a capture rate. The campus will also buy power from gas generators run by Tallgrass and Black Hills, and an engineering study will assess adding carbon capture to Tallgrass's combined cycle turbines. Google says its contracted carbon-capture capacity will now reach nearly 1 gigawatt.

AEP had already outlined the plant in October. According to POWER Magazine, it expects to spend about $4 billion on it, Google will buy its output under a 20-year agreement, and the plant should be fully operational by the end of 2028.

Paying for power, and local pushback

Google says it will pay for 100% of the electricity it uses and cover the infrastructure that its growth directly drives, a pledge aimed at concerns that data centers push up bills for other ratepayers. The facility will be air-cooled to limit water use. The company projects more than 8,800 construction jobs statewide, including about 2,500 on site at peak, more than 3,700 jobs a year once operating, of which 250 are direct roles, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes for the county and its school district. After meeting more than 200 residents, it is forming a community council with its partners.

The announcement came as resistance to data centers grows in the US. Reuters noted that all but one of 41 data center-related local ballot measures decided that week went against the projects, and that Bloom Energy shares fell more than 14% on fears that restrictions could hit the sector. The Wyoming plan still relies on natural gas, and carbon capture reduces emissions rather than eliminating them.