Black Hills plans gas generation and microgrid for Wyoming Google site

Black Hills Corp. plans to invest 1.8 billion dollars to build 564 megawatts of new natural gas-fired generation in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Power Engineering and Power Engineering Magazine reported. The South Dakota-based utility holding company will also manage a 2.1-gigawatt microgrid consisting of third-party resources to power a planned Google data center. [1][2]

The project will draw on a total resource mix of approximately 2.7 gigawatts, Power Engineering reported. This total figure includes required reserve margins and excludes transmission expansion. Power Engineering added that the new natural gas capacity will be constructed at the existing Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station between 2027 and 2029. [1]

Google operates a global technology portfolio that includes Google Cloud, search operations, and hardware development, while handling billions of queries every day. Demand for power infrastructure to support large computing facilities has led energy developers to pursue dedicated power generation projects across several regions. [6]

As FTMQ Climate reported earlier, other developers are similarly pairing natural gas power generation directly with computing facilities. For example, Fit Energy previously announced plans to build a natural gas fuel cell and data center project in Newport Township, Pennsylvania. [7]