The largest solar power project in Wyoming, which plans to supply electricity to a burgeoning infrastructure of power-hungry data centers in south Cheyenne, was given the green light for construction Tuesday by a key state permitting agency.
The $1.2 billion solar farm project with more than 1.2 million panels will be built by Canadian energy giant Enbridge Inc.
The 771-megawatt solar farm will be built on private land leases in two phases south of Cheyenne, about 4 miles southeast of the capital city. The solar power facility will generate enough electricity to light up more than 771,000 homes, more than in all of Wyoming.
The proposal offered by the Alberta-based energy firm, however, designates power from the farm for large industrial corporate customers in Wyoming and not homeowners, according to the application.
The section of south Cheyenne where the solar farm will be built is where super-sized, energy-guzzling data centers like software giant Microsoft Corp., social media giant Meta Platforms Inc. — formerly Facebook — and other big data centers in the area are building in the Cheyenne area.
‘Early Development Phase’
Earlier this month, an Enbridge spokesman told Cowboy State Daily that his company has identified an opportunity to develop a solar and battery energy storage project south of Cheyenne, where "preliminary details” will be shared with the public in “coming months as we explore the opportunity further.”
He said that the project is in an "early development phase,” with final plans still to be "determined via engagement, permitting work and interconnection studies” with the local electrical grid.
The project area, totaling 3,845 acres, is located east of U.S. Highway 85 and both north and south of Chalk Bluff Road and County Road 203.
The project has been split into two construction phases over a 29-month period.
Construction on Cowboy Solar 1 is expected to begin in March 2025, with commercial operation commencing in January 2027. Commercial operation of Cowboy Solar II is expected to begin in August 2027.
Enbridge estimates that the onsite workforce will have a monthly average of 285 temporary workers, with a peak workforce of 375 workers in April 2025.
The Industrial Siting Division of Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality took just over four months to approve Enbridge’s application for the permit after it was submitted for consideration in mid-January.
Enbridge’s only other presence in Wyoming includes the Express-Platte pipeline that transports crude oil from western Canada to refineries in the U.S. Rockies region. The main delivery point of crude through the pipeline is Casper.
Ranchers Opposed
When complete, the Enbridge project would become the largest utility-scale solar farm in Wyoming.
A proposed solar farm near Glenrock will cover more than 4,700 acres bordering the North Platte River and, when online, promises to produce 500 megawatts of power. It also will feature raised solar panels so sheep can graze under them and use the same land.
The Enbridge project has been met with some resistance from local ranchers.
Since April 2020, Alberta-based Enbridge has worked to get its solar farm project off the ground, taking up leases with most of cattle rancher Ed Prosser’s ranching neighbors to the east and north.
His more than 2,800 acres of land will be surrounded by the 1.2 million solar panels — an eyesore for Prosser along 4 miles of his northern fence of his spread and 2 miles along the eastern edge.
Pine Bluffs resident Marc Torriani, a Republican who is running for state Sen. Anthony Bouchard’s Senate District 6 seat in the primary this August, lives about 20 miles to the east of the solar farm and is worried about a potential fire erupting from a very large battery storage system to be built and managed at the solar farm.
Instead of rolling hills, the virgin dry prairie grasslands will be dug up to make way for steel posts to hold the solar panels up to the sunlight, he said.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
