Laramie County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a project that will bring a 600 acre AI data center, along with a 659 acre power plant, to Cheyenne.
"It's actually an exciting project that is kind of driven by the administration and Washington's desire for us to expand our AI capabilities throughout the United States," said commission Chair Gunnar Malm.
The proposed 1.8 gigawatt project by Crusoe has taken its next step, as due to the possible impacts to the area, its being built necessitated a vote from the commission.
Malm explained some pieces of the project he and fellow commissioners took as important, one being how this project will utilize Wyoming's "legacy industry of natural gas as its power production," as the planned power plant will produce that natural gas, and that gas will stay in the state.
"By and large, lots of Wyoming gas – that'll instead of producing power that is shipped out of the state of Wyoming, like we see with much of our mineral industry – that'll be utilized here in Laramie County and in Wyoming," he said.
Other things to note according to Malm is knowing residents' energy bills are not going to be affected, and due to the new technologies with cooling, water usage will be minimal. Malm said it will take 23 home sites to fill up the system and about three home sites to "replace" with water annually, roughly.
Additionally, he said he feels that having this center will increase Wyoming's role in the defense of the nation.
"The battle for electrons is the 21st century battlefield,” he said. “Laramie County has always played a huge role in that, with our nuclear deterrence and with F.E. Warren and what our capabilities are there. This is just a new front in that global struggle that we've seen evolve over time."
WNN also spoke to Commissioner Ty Zwonitzer about this project. In a statement, he said in part, he agrees that this project follows Wyoming's identity and legacies, stating it checks "all of the boxes."
Malm said he expects shovels to be in the ground for this project within the "next 60 to 90 days."
According to Crusoe and its partner Tallgrass, construction will bring 5,000 jobs. Workers will not be housed in "man camps."
When finished, the facility will have 400 permanent jobs.
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
