- New Wyoming Plant could consume twice as much electricity as the entire state is currently producing annually
- Data Center Developers build customized natural gas and sustained plants to give birth to massive energy needs
- Crusoe refused to confirm any involvement of Openai in spite of growing speculation and past partnerships
The plans for a new AI Data Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, have raised serious issues of energy consumption and infrastructure requirements.
The proposed facility, a collaboration between Energy Company Tallgrass and Data Center Developer Crusoe, is expected to start with 1.8 gigawatts and could scale to a huge 10 gigawatts.
For context, this is over five times more electricity than what all households in Wyoming are currently using.
A dedicated power supply to a quiet bearer
Given the extraordinary energy requirements, it is not an option to pull electricity from the public network – instead the developers are intended to operate the site using a combination of natural gas and renewable energy that is built specifically for the plant.
However, the mystery of the project continues to elaborate because the future resident of the data center has not been named.
Speculation has focused on Openai when the AI giant recently collaborated with Crusoe at a separate facility in Texas, described as the “largest data center” in the world.
This project is reportedly drawing around a gigawat energy and is seen as part of Openai’s wider “Stargate” initiative.
Openai has committed to developing more gigawatts with data center capacity, although the company has not confirmed any presence in Wyoming.
When asked, Crusoe refused to confirm or deny if this new place is tied to Stargate, which burned further uncertainty.
The core of such AII-focused data centers lies the demand for extremely high performance hardware.
Industrial experts expect it to house the fastest CPUs available, possibly in dense, rack -mounted workstation configurations that are optimized for deep learning and model education.
These systems are powerful by design, where each server node can handle massive workloads that require sustained cooling and uninterrupted energy.
Wyoming State officials have embraced the project as a boost for local industries, especially natural gas; However, some experts warn of wider implications.
Even with a self -sufficient power model, a data center in this scale changes regional power dynamics.
There is concern that residents of Wyoming and its surroundings may face higher benefits, especially if local supply chains or pricing models are indirectly affected.
Wyoming’s identity as an important energy exporter could also be tested if more such facilities occur.
Via Arstechnica
