Google’s $17 Billion Wyoming Bet Meets Backlash and a Power Test

By Amara Osei

Google announced a $17 billion data center campus near Cheyenne, Wyoming, on November 5; Reuters reported that voters rejected 40 of 41 data-center ballot measures two days earlier.

The announcement followed the November 3 midterms, which delivered what Reuters described as a sweeping political rebuke to AI infrastructure expansion. Reuters also reported wins for candidates opposed to data-center expansion in key Texas and Georgia races. Microsoft declined to expand its Texas data-center agreement with AI cloud provider Nscale that day, while Bloomberg reported tighter oversight of projects from neocloud providers Nebius, IREN and Nscale.

What has Google committed?

Google’s blog post called the project a “long-term, $17 billion investment in the Cowboy State,” built with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP) and data center developer Related Digital. The company framed the investment as a model of responsible growth.

Google said the campus will use air cooling “to minimize strain on local water resources.” It pledged to pay for 100% of the power it consumes and cover all infrastructure driven by its growth. Google separately said it will offtake power from gas generators operated by Tallgrass and Black Hills Energy.

Google’s announcement centers on a 702-megawatt solid-oxide fuel-cell development backed by a 20-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement. Bloom Energy supplies the U.S.-made cells, and AEP owns and operates the project.

Yahoo Finance reported that AEP owns about 92% of Cheyenne Fuel Cell LLC, the entity building the roughly $4 billion plant; Google pays whether it uses the power or not. AEP expects earnings contributions in 2027 and full service by December 2028.

Yahoo Finance described the plant as the largest planned commercial deployment of solid-oxide fuel cells for data-center power. Bloom Energy’s CEO called it a “first-of-its-kind project,” a designation that also leaves the plant without an operating precedent at this scale. Bloom shares fell 16% on announcement day despite a simultaneous 900 MW deal with NTT DATA.

Can the power and carbon strategy work?

The fuel cells will burn natural gas, so the site will produce emissions. Google plans to send captured carbon to Tallgrass Energy’s nearby Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub, which is designed to store CO2 permanently underground. Google says the system will capture “a large majority” of the fuel-cell project’s emissions.

Tallgrass said the hub received a Wyoming Energy Authority grant in 2022 for development work and drilling a characterization well ahead of a Class VI permit filing. Adding carbon capture and storage to Tallgrass’s combined-cycle gas turbines remains only a front-end engineering and design study. Google did not disclose how natural-gas price swings would flow through its contracts.

Yahoo Finance reported that Black Hills Energy’s gas generation begins in late 2027 and ramps to peak demand in 2030. It also said Google’s 100% power-payment pledge covers the Wyoming site only.

What does the political backlash mean for the project?

Wyoming remains a Republican stronghold; Donald Trump won more than 70% of the vote there in 2024, according to JH News & Guide. Yet a University of Wyoming poll published the previous week found only 30% of residents supported allowing more large AI data centers. Secretary of State and Congressman-elect Chuck Gray has opposed new AI data centers, JH News & Guide reported.

Google and JH News & Guide reported that more than 200 residents at a community meeting raised concerns about economic transparency, workforce development and the cumulative impact of data-center growth. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins called the project “not speculative... happening” and said Tallgrass is preparing a one-square-mile area for its first phase.

Councilman Larry Wolfe was blunter: “...We're not easily dazzled anymore... it has made us really cynical about projects that aren't of that magnitude.”

How much money will reach Laramie County?

Google says the project will generate “hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes for Laramie County and School District 1.” Yahoo Finance characterized those figures as anticipated contributions rather than tax revenue already received. The company also promised grants for K-12 STEM education and workforce development.

Google said it and its partners will form a Community Council with Tallgrass, Black Hills, AEP, Related Digital and Bloom to develop “common-sense solutions to support Cheyenne through this phase of growth.” Under Google’s standing community commitments, the company says it avoids NDAs with governments, discloses early involvement, pays full property taxes and gives local hiring priority.

How much of the campus plan remains unverified?

Google disclosed no campus size, compute capacity or completion date. Unconfirmed site plans described a 716-acre parcel in the Switchgrass Industrial Park, eight miles south of Cheyenne. Site plans cited by Yahoo Finance and Data Center Dynamics named Project Tembo, which targeted 2.7 GW by 2031, and Project Jade, which started at 1.8 GW and scaled to 10 GW across four data halls.

Crusoe had been developing the site until June 2026, when it paused work “at the request of our customer,” Data Center Dynamics reported. Google’s subsidiary Jupiter Star Holdings LLC now holds the parcel. Google’s announcement did not explain Crusoe’s departure.

The 702 MW fuel-cell project is planned generation, not a certified data-center load; committed investment, planned generation and operational capacity remain distinct. Yahoo Finance said CCS capture rates, energy penalties, transport and storage integrity at this scale will be known only in commercial operation.

Tallgrass said the hub has reached characterization-well drilling and permit preparation. The FEED cited by Google applies to adding CCS to combined-cycle turbines, not the hub, and remains a study rather than a commitment.

How did investors react?

Alphabet shares fell 2.2% on the announcement day and were down 18.7% over the preceding month, according to Yahoo Finance. AEP fell 1.9%, while Bloom’s 16% decline was the sharpest. Yahoo Finance said the sell-off followed the midterm results, suggesting markets priced political risk before Google’s policy response.

Yahoo Finance characterized the plan as a capital-intensive answer to the two leading objections to AI infrastructure: ratepayers subsidizing hyperscaler power and water-hungry cooling straining arid regions. Its self-funded power pledge, air cooling and coordinated generation-plus-capture design address those objections in concrete terms. The company argued that only the largest hyperscalers can readily replicate a structure pairing their balance sheet with a utility willing to take construction risk under a 20-year contract with an investment-grade counterparty.

Permitting hearings, construction milestones and the first years of CCS operation will determine whether the model scales or whether local backlash hardens as Cheyenne’s data-center count moves well past 20. For now, Google has committed $17 billion and secured a power strategy; the data-center campus remains on the drawing board.