On November 5, 2026, Google said it will build its first data center in Wyoming, a $17 billion investment in Laramie County near Cheyenne. The announcement came two days after the US midterms, in which voters in 40 of 41 local ballot measures on data centers sided with limits, according to Ballotpedia as reported by Bloomberg. Google's own post is mostly about power, carbon and water.
What Google is building
Google calls it a long-term investment and names four partners: Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power (AEP) and Related Digital (Google). Google says the data center will be air-cooled to reduce strain on local water supplies.
The power plan
The biggest piece is a 702 MW fuel cell development contracted with AEP, with carbon capture and storage. Google calls it the largest planned development of its kind. The fuel cells run on natural gas and will be made by Bloom Energy. Google says most of the carbon will be captured and stored at Tallgrass's Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub, bringing its total contracted carbon capture capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt. It is also buying power from gas generators run by Tallgrass and Black Hills, and studying carbon capture for Tallgrass's combined-cycle turbines (Google).
The timing
Bloomberg reported the project alongside the ballot results, citing Ballotpedia (Bloomberg, Nov 5, 2026). Reuters described it as going ahead amid rising threats of curbs on data centers (Reuters via US News, Nov 5, 2026).
What to watch
- Whether the 702 MW fuel cell and carbon capture plan is built on the schedule Google and AEP set. Google's post does not give a completion date in the text reviewed here.
- How local limits on data centers affect projects like this one.
- Whether the carbon capture study on Tallgrass's turbines becomes a contract.
Full article with sources and FAQ: https://tekthrill.com/blog/google-wyoming-data-center-17-billion-gas-fuel-cells/
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