W.030Google put $17B on its Wyoming campus. AEP plans to invest about $5.7M a megawatt in the 702 MW fuel-cell plant meant to power it
Google said on November 5 it will make a long-term, $17B investment in its first Wyoming data center, near Cheyenne, more than any other state commitment it has made since late 2025 except Texas’s $40B. Part of the power comes from a 702 MW natural-gas fuel-cell plant with carbon capture in which AEP plans to invest about $4B, about $5.7M per megawatt, using Bloom Energy fuel cells; AEP expects it fully running by the end of 2028. The utility, Black Hills, has lined up about 2.7 GW of resources for the campus. Google gave no figure for the data center’s own load or capture rate.
What Google announced, and what it didn’t
The $17 billion has no breakdown or end date. Google described it as a long-term investment in Laramie County, its first data center in Wyoming, with Tallgrass, Black Hills Energy, AEP and Related Digital as partners. Of the single-state commitments Google has announced since October 2025 charted below, only Texas, at $40 billion through 2027, is larger; Missouri got $15 billion in May. Against Alphabet’s 2026 capital spending guidance of $195 billion to $205 billion, it equals about 8.5% of a year’s spending, or 33% of the $51.4 billion Alphabet spent in the third quarter alone, though Google set no period for it. Google gave no figure for the campus’s computing load, its start date or its phases.
The power plan was mostly public before the announcement. AEP said on October 14 it plans to invest about $4 billion in a 702 MW fuel-cell plant near Cheyenne and sell its output to Google for 20 years, with construction from 2026 and full operation expected by the end of 2028. That works out to about $5.70 million per megawatt. In January AEP had disclosed an unconditional agreement to buy about $2.65 billion of fuel cells, later reported to be Bloom’s, for a site near Cheyenne; Data Center Frontier reported that purchase is part of the $4 billion, not on top of it. Black Hills said in October it had agreed to serve the campus with up to 590 MW from its grid and about 2.1 GW of third-party resources through a privately managed microgrid, about 2.7 GW in all including reserves, from late 2027 and reaching peak load in 2030. It has not said whether AEP’s plant sits inside those resources.
Wyoming against Google’s other state commitments
Data center investments Google has announced for single US states since October 2025 that we could confirm, $ billions, with the date announced and the period given, where one was. Wyoming’s figure has no period. Amounts are announcements, not contracts.
Four companies, four price tags
Spending each company has announced tied to Google’s Cheyenne campus, $ billions: Google’s long-term investment; Tallgrass’s Cheyenne Power Hub (an investment it says will exceed $7B; its first phase is about 1,150 MW); AEP’s planned investment in the fuel-cell plant (about $4B); and Black Hills’s new gas plant, capital spending over 2027–2029. These are separate companies’ figures and may overlap with what Google pays them; they should not be added.
Carbon capture and Bloom’s order book
Google’s “nearly 1 gigawatt” is less than a full count of its two projects. Google said the plant will capture “a large majority” of its emissions, without a percentage, and that the deal brings its contracted carbon capture capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt. Its only earlier project, a gas plant of over 400 MW in Illinois, takes the total to about 1,102 MW if counted in full; Google said it would buy most of that plant’s output, not all, which may explain the gap. Google did not say.
The Wyoming plant is one of Bloom’s largest single orders. Bloom’s largest agreement, with Oracle, covers 1.2 GW contracted and up to 2.8 GW in all; it announced a 900 MW deal with NTT DATA on the same day as Google’s news. The Wyoming plant is a project under AEP’s 2024 agreement with Bloom for up to 1 GW. Its 702 MW equals about 14% of the 5 GW a year that Bloom said in April its current factory footprint can deliver. Bloom’s shares were down 14% to 16% during trading on November 5, 24/7 Wall St reported, in a selloff tied to fears of limits on data center construction after the midterms.
Wyoming against Bloom’s other big orders
Bloom Energy’s largest announced orders and projects, MW: solid is contracted; the outline is the further amount Oracle’s agreement allows “up to”. The Wyoming plant sits under AEP’s agreement for up to 1 GW. The dashed line is the 5 GW a year Bloom says its current factory footprint can deliver.
What this changes on 06.ai
- Pack lead (Hyperscaler capex funding): about $5.7M per MW for on-site fuel-cell generation, paid by a utility and recovered through a 20-year contract, is a dated cost marker for power that hyperscalers buy rather than build.
- Watch: AEP’s December 2026 offtake milestone, reported by POWER, and whether Google gives the campus’s computing load or a capture rate.
Sources and method
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| “Long-term, $17 billion investment” in Laramie County, its first Wyoming data center; partners Tallgrass, Black Hills Energy, AEP, Related Digital; 702 MW fuel-cell development contracted with AEP, Bloom fuel cells, carbon capture of “a large majority” of emissions, stored at Tallgrass’s Eastern Wyoming Sequestration Hub; contracted carbon capture capacity “nearly 1 gigawatt”; air-cooled; 8,800+ construction jobs | Google blog, Nov 5 | |
| The announcement, against post-midterm opposition to data centers | Reuters, Nov 5, via Yahoo Finance | |
| AEP | About $4B for 702 MW of Bloom fuel cells near Cheyenne; 20-year agreement to sell the power to Google; AEP owns about 92% of the project company; construction from 2026, full operation expected by the end of 2028 | AEP release, Oct 14 |
| AEP | Unconditional purchase agreement of about $2.65B for “a substantial portion” of its option on solid oxide fuel cells (Bloom’s, per later reporting), for a facility near Cheyenne with a 20-year offtake | AEP 8-K, January 2026 |
| AEP | Offtake milestone extended by agreement, a December 2026 milestone remains; fuel cells to be in service by the end of 2028 for the investment tax credit | POWER, Oct 15 |
| AEP | The $2.65B purchase is part of the $4B project | Data Center Frontier, Nov 4 |
| Black Hills | Up to 590 MW of grid service; about 2,100 MW of third-party Wyoming resources through a privately managed microgrid; about 2,700 MW in all including reserves; 564 MW gas plant, $1.8B capex 2027–2029; $399M refundable advances from Google; service from late 2027, peak load 2030, terms through 2048 | Black Hills 8-K exhibit, Oct 6 |
| Tallgrass | Cheyenne Power Hub: phase 1 about 1,150 MW from two gas turbines, “an investment that will exceed $7 billion” | Tallgrass release, May 15 |
| Broadwing | “Over 400 MW” gas plant with carbon capture in Decatur, Illinois; Google to buy most of its output | Google blog, Oct 2025 |
| Bloom | Oracle agreement for up to 2.8 GW, an initial 1.2 GW contracted | Bloom release, Apr 13 |
| Bloom | AEP’s 2024 agreement with Bloom covers up to 1 GW; the Wyoming plant is a project under it | POWER, Oct 15 |
| Bloom | NTT DATA, 900 MW across data center projects, Nov 5; Bloom shares down about 14% in midday trading (its price panel showed a fall of 16.4%) | 24/7 Wall St, Nov 5 |
| Bloom | Current manufacturing footprint “will allow us to deliver 5 gigawatts of product annually” (chief executive KR Sridhar) | Bloom Q1 2026 call transcript, Apr 28 |
| Alphabet | 2026 capital expenditure guidance $195B–$205B; third-quarter capex $51.4B | Alphabet Q3 call highlights, Yahoo Finance |
| States | Texas, $40B through 2027, Nov 14, 2025 | Bloomberg |
| States | Missouri, $15B, Montgomery County, announced May 20, 2026 | Missourinet, May 21 |
| States | South Carolina, $9B through 2027, Oct 13, 2025 | Google blog |
| States | Arkansas, $4B, West Memphis, Oct 2, 2025 | Talk Business & Politics |
| States | Alabama, $1.5B, Jackson County, for 2026–27, June 2026 | Google blog |
Cost per megawatt: 4,000 ÷ 702 = 5.70 ($ millions per MW). If the January purchase covered all 702 MW, it would be 2,650 ÷ 702 = 3.77 for the fuel cells; AEP has not said what share it covers. Capex: midpoint (195 + 205) ÷ 2 = 200; 17 ÷ 200 = 8.5%; 17 ÷ 51.4 = 33.1%. Bloom: 702 ÷ 5,000 = 14.0%. Carbon capture: 702 + 400 = 1,102 MW. Rank: Wyoming is number 2 of the 6 state commitments charted.
Wire reports are written within hours of the news, on a six-hour schedule. Each lists its sources and shows the arithmetic behind its figures. Not investment advice.