Black Hills signs $1.8 bn power agreements to serve Google’s planned Wyoming data centre

On 6 October 2026 Black Hills Corp. announced definitive agreements to provide energy services for a planned Google data centre in Cheyenne, Wyoming, under contracts that run through 2048.

The agreements cover up to 590 MW of grid‑connected service and the coordination of roughly 2.1 GW of third‑party contracted resources through a privately managed microgrid, supporting a total resource mix of about 2.7 GW including reserve margins.

Black Hills will construct and own 564 MW of natural‑gas generation at its existing Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station; the remaining 26 MW of the 590‑MW grid‑connected service will be sourced from market purchases and retail utility service under the industrial tariff.

Energy service is scheduled to begin in late 2027, with demand expected to rise to the project’s peak load by 2030.

Google has provided Black Hills with $399 million in refundable advances for long‑lead equipment, which the utility expects to repay by 30 June 2027 while financing the remaining investment through project cash flow, debt and other options.

Black Hills says the contracts are structured so that Google bears all costs of serving the data centre, protecting existing retail customers through cost‑pass‑through, stranded‑asset safeguards, early‑termination provisions and credit requirements.

The utility projects about $150 million in net income for 2030 and expects roughly $2.4 billion of unlevered free cash flow through 2048 after deducting the $1.8 bn generation investment.

Regulatory approvals have progressed, with Wyoming regulators granting the Robinson substation’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in May 2026 and approving the Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station expansion’s air‑quality permit in August 2026.

Black Hills has also filed a Large Customer Transmission Cost Adjustment Mechanism and a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the South Cheyenne Transmission Expansion, and it expects to submit another transmission‑expansion application in the fourth quarter of 2026.