July 31, 2025 – On Monday, Patrick Collins, the mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, unveiled an audacious proposal: the construction of an artificial intelligence (AI) data center that will consume more electricity than all households in the state combined. According to the Associated Press, the project is a joint venture between Tallgrass, an energy infrastructure firm, and Crusoe, an AI data center developer, with an initial power demand of 1.8 gigawatts (GW) and plans to scale up to 10 GW over time.
For Wyoming, the least populous U.S. state, the energy requirements of this initiative are staggering. The initial 1.8 GW phase alone will require 15.8 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually—more than five times the total annual residential electricity consumption of the entire state and accounting for 91% of Wyoming’s current combined residential, commercial, and industrial electricity usage (17.3 billion kWh). If the facility reaches full capacity at 10 GW, its yearly energy consumption will soar to 87.6 billion kWh, double the state’s current total electricity generation of 43.2 billion kWh.
Given the impracticality of sourcing such massive amounts of power from the public grid, the project will rely on a combination of dedicated natural gas-fired generation and renewable energy sources. However, even with self-sufficiency in power supply, this colossal local demand represents a seismic shift for Wyoming, which currently exports nearly 60% of its electricity generation to other states.
The proposed data center will be located a few miles south of Cheyenne, near the Colorado border and adjacent to U.S. Route 85. While state and local regulatory approvals are still pending, Mayor Collins expressed optimism about swift progress, stating, “I’m confident they’re moving forward with urgency, not delay.”
Cheyenne is no stranger to data centers; since 2012, tech giants like Microsoft and Meta have established facilities in the city, drawn by its cool climate and energy advantages. Yet, this new project pushes Wyoming into uncharted territory. Despite being the nation’s third-largest net energy exporter—with total energy production 12 times its consumption, primarily from fossil fuels—the state’s electricity infrastructure remains constrained.
While Tallgrass and Crusoe have confirmed their partnership, they have not disclosed the ultimate users of the computing capacity, fueling speculation about potential tenants.
