Cheyenne To Host Massive AI Datacenter Using More Electricity Than All Wyoming Homes Combined (apnews.com) 47
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: An artificial intelligence data center that would use more electricity than every home in Wyoming combined before expanding to as much as five times that size will be built soon near Cheyenne, according to the city's mayor. "It's a game changer. It's huge," Mayor Patrick Collins said Monday. With cool weather -- good for keeping computer temperatures down -- and an abundance of inexpensive electricity from a top energy-producing state, Wyoming's capital has become a hub of computing power. The city has been home to Microsoft data centers since 2012. An $800 million data center announced last year by Facebook parent company Meta Platforms is nearing completion, Collins said.
The latest data center, a joint effort between regional energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe, would begin at 1.8 gigawatts of electricity and be scalable to 10 gigawatts, according to a joint company statement. A gigawatt can power as many as 1 million homes. But that's more homes than Wyoming has people. The least populated state, Wyoming, has about 590,000 people. And it's a major exporter of energy. A top producer of coal, oil and gas, Wyoming ranks behind only Texas, New Mexico and Pennsylvania as a top net energy-producing state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Accounting for fossil fuels, Wyoming produces about 12 times more energy than it consumes. The state exports almost three-fifths of the electricity it produces, according to the EIA. But this proposed data center is so big, it would have its own dedicated energy from gas generation and renewable sources, according to Collins and company officials. [...] While data centers are energy-hungry, experts say companies can help reduce their effect on the climate by powering them with renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Even so, electricity customers might see their bills increase as utilities plan for massive data projects on the grid. The data center would be built several miles (kilometers) south of Cheyenne off U.S. 85 near the Colorado state line. State and local regulators would need to sign off on the project, but Collins was optimistic construction could begin soon. "I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later," Collins said.
The latest data center, a joint effort between regional energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe, would begin at 1.8 gigawatts of electricity and be scalable to 10 gigawatts, according to a joint company statement. A gigawatt can power as many as 1 million homes. But that's more homes than Wyoming has people. The least populated state, Wyoming, has about 590,000 people. And it's a major exporter of energy. A top producer of coal, oil and gas, Wyoming ranks behind only Texas, New Mexico and Pennsylvania as a top net energy-producing state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Accounting for fossil fuels, Wyoming produces about 12 times more energy than it consumes. The state exports almost three-fifths of the electricity it produces, according to the EIA. But this proposed data center is so big, it would have its own dedicated energy from gas generation and renewable sources, according to Collins and company officials. [...] While data centers are energy-hungry, experts say companies can help reduce their effect on the climate by powering them with renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Even so, electricity customers might see their bills increase as utilities plan for massive data projects on the grid. The data center would be built several miles (kilometers) south of Cheyenne off U.S. 85 near the Colorado state line. State and local regulators would need to sign off on the project, but Collins was optimistic construction could begin soon. "I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later," Collins said.
It's a good thing we aren't stopping wind & so (Score:5, Interesting)
Fun fact in some of the Southwest states places that have had AI data centers open up near them have had water shortages and shut offs because there isn't enough to go around. And yes I am aware that data centers can recycle water but that costs money and they're already losing money hand over fist.
And very very very soon nobody will have (Score:3, Interesting)
Access to electricity. All electricity supplies will be reserved for AI and robots and there won't be anything left for houses where people live very very soon. You could have voted better but it's too late now.
As far as a way around that there really is only one and it's to change how we teach to focus on critical thinking and improving children's capabilities to the maximum they can reach. But that's it odds with cost cutting and a desire to create effective corporate robots as fast as possible and it's c
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quit you're jawing
LLMs don't have jaws.
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Tallgrass is probably planning on burning coal for this project soooo
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Because otherwise all these AI data centers would drive up the cost of electricity substantially while possibly causing blackouts.
I was thinking much the same. These data centers are attracted to the state due to low energy costs but their energy consumption is so large that it is likely to shift the costs. What happens then? Is energy still cheap?
This growing demand for cheap energy is going to get out of control until there is a public policy change to meet this demand. I see nothing that can meet this energy demand but nuclear fission. The problem is licensing delays and build time, but both of those are largely self imposed.
I think slow down a bit. (Score:3)
Someday someone will ask (Score:2)
Hey Ai, how do we reduce energy consumption and stop glogal warming?
The answer will be: turn off all the AI datacenter s.
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it will take years (Score:2)
I think they can build the data centers faster than the natgas plants or whatever other dirty energy sources they expect to be able to get all this electricity from. And that means the data centers will be in direct competition with all the other consumers of electricity. Prices will shoot up.
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I think you are referring to Montana, most electricity in Wyoming comes from fossil and its likely to stay that way.
From what we are being told, the energy cost per token has already fallen dramatically;
"Eighteen months ago, it cost $36 to process one million tokens in AI models, while today the same transaction is just a fraction of the cost at $0.25."
https://techbriefly.com/2024/0... [techbriefly.com]
No doubt it will continue to drop but all that does is throw gas on the fire. Demand for the services is huge and growing ex
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Utility company pricing is regulated.
Pricing will only "shoot up" to the extent govt allows.
Which just means data center owners will need to ramp up their spending on politicians.
Re:it will take years (Score:5, Insightful)
If costs shoot up, the choices are: make consumers pay; make the AI owners pay; force the power companies to eat the costs. The first of these is outrageous, and the last just leads to bankruptcy. This being a US story, I expect it will be a mix of the first and third, with more blackouts for good measure.
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The AI owners have enormous amounts of investment cash, and they won't mind paying whatever it takes to get the electricity they require.
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While I agree that in the end they would pay it if required to, they're going to look for the most profitable route, and persuading local governments to pass at least some of the costs on to consumers and some more of the costs onto power companies is in their interests
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Utility profit margins are regulated, not energy costs. When generation cost goes up (for the last incremental MWH), your rates go up by that much plus the utility's margin. When a utility makes a capital investment they apply for a rate case with regulators to increase their profit margin. Win-win for the utility company.
Re:it will take years (Score:5, Insightful)
Wind is the lowest-cost power, and turbines can be installed very quickly.
Wyoming has plenty of wind.
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You are correct and I'm very much in favor of wind and solar, but the vast majority of electricity in Wyoming comes from fossil fuel sources;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
40% of US coal comes from the Powder River Basin. My guess is that the utilities will simply add capacity to existing dirty energy plants.
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Coal isn't 'dirty energy'. Particularly with EPA regulation, it's considered "green" now. It's overall ecological impact (that is, in terms of total lifecycle cost) is significantly lower than wind.
Saying "wind is green" is myopic and short sighted, and doesn't include the massively disproportional material and ecological cost of producing the disposable steel and concrete towers with large, easily damaged fiberglass resin blades.
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>> significantly lower than wind
What a load of horseshit. Coal is massively polluting, and not just the CO2. You can see a list of pollutants and other environmental damage here;
https://www.eia.gov/energyexpl... [eia.gov]
Yes the construction of the wind turbines is also polluting but that is offset by the clean electricity generation in a couple of months of operation. The blades and all other components are recyclable.
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Wind is the lowest-cost power, and turbines can be installed very quickly.
Wind power is intermittent. Assuming these are the modern nonsynchronous windmills that use inverters to provide AC power there's the added problem of grid instability like on the Iberian Peninsula. Not enough spinning turbines can lead to instabilities that can cause outages that last for hours. It's certainly possible to add to the stability with synchronous condensers and battery backups but that costs money, money that will have to be made up with electricity rates. That is unless this grid stabilit
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Wind isn't the lowest cost for baseload - if it isn't subsidized. It's not even competitive with natural gas, and is markedly less reliable.
It's subsidization which makes it cost competitive. And even then, it's only competitive per kwh, it's not competitive for primary base load (which is 100% what a datacenter needs) because wind is cyclical and periodic. It isn't always windy in WY, and it's often too windy for wind power (35mph+ winds). I'm really tired of the tripe propaganda about wind/solar. I LIKE w
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Speaking of Cheyenne and pricing:
Is a local Cheyenne dialysis clinic charging too much for dialysis?
All this and more...
Right now.
On an all new...
Sassy Justice
Sassy Justice with Fred Sassy (Full Episode) | Deep Fake and Deep Fake: The Movie [youtube.com].
The illusion of the wonder weapon (Score:2)
Your attacks fail on the very battlefield that you used to define, you fall back to defensive positions but they don't hold, your rear is devastated by corruption, so what do you do?
Yep, you develop wunderwaffes and try to convince yourself they justify the lost resources.
Then they don't, and you lose anyway.
Seen many times in history.
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Someone has been hitting the Mary Jane a bit to hard tonight. Better start sharing.
Too late (Score:5, Funny)
What? (Score:3, Interesting)
...electricity customers might see their bills increase as utilities plan for massive data projects on the grid.
Why are existing customers having to pay for for this dedicated infrastructure, instead of it being charged directly to the DC build project?
Oh, yeah - late-stage capitalism.
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Well, no. The AI data centers have to buy their electricity just like anyone else. Maybe they get a better price per kwh, because they buy so much.
However, increasing electricity costs will encourage the power companies to build more power plants. The biggest problem here is government intervention and over-regulation: for the kind of power these data centers need, you really want modular nuclear reactors. Dozens or hundreds of reactors of the same design, because that's what would make them economical. S
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Well, no. The AI data centers have to buy their electricity just like anyone else.
When I buy widgets, I pay a price. When Gary over there buys 10,000 times more than I do, Gary pays a price.
However, why do power companies expect me to pay to subsidize other's price?
When I get a rail shipment, I pay the railroad to put in a switch and a siding. And every 10 to 15 to 20 years, I have to pay to have it maintained.
When I get a truck shipment, the trucks pay a fuel taxes which goes to pay for their share of the road.
Why do power companies expect a general subsidy?
I think you're correct - the
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are existing customers having to pay for for this dedicated infrastructure, instead of it being charged directly to the DC build project?
If we did that they'll build the datacentre elsewhere and that will lead to lost jobs. Both of them.
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Garbage argument.
Th existing customers are paying for their own electricity. The cost for it is determined by supply and demand (hence your comment about capitalism). They also use the services of the AI. If they want to spend less, they can and do get solar plus battery. Wyoming is big on self-reliance.
But the DC build project pays for it's own infrastructure. And the jobs that they create.
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> If they want to spend less, they can and do get solar plus battery
A typical northern home will need land, about $30K in capitalization and the ability to withstand a payback period of about a decade (exclusive of inflation and opportunity cost).
So the poor and city folks will get stuck with the bill. Even in the era of solar subsidies they all went to those wealthy enough to cover the gap. Privatize the gains and socialize the losses, as always.
> But the DC build project pays for it's own infrastr
But keep using those energy saver bulbs everyone (Score:2, Interesting)
*Fictitious number for illustrative purposes only.
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and keep being guilted into turning your heating and hot water down a few degrees
Because power I don't use I'm not supposed to be charged for. However, AI and power companies seem to expect we subsidize their growth spurts, not those root causes of systemic sector use.
Besides, those that do not believe humans cause macro changes to climate and environment haven't noticed that there aren't any more passenger pigeons or vast herds of buffalo. Heck, even useful insects are getting hit. I remember going for drives in the country as a child and having to have a wire brush to get dead bugs ou
"Game changer!" (Score:3)
These Data Centers are running on coal (Score:2)
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The vast majority of electricity produced in Wyoming comes from coal
... which means that for every dollar Wyoming gets out of this deal, Florida will be paying out five dollars for additional disaster recovery. Wyoming might as well be hacking into Florida's treasury and draining their funds directly.
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The idea that producing some tens of GW in Wyoming can affect the weather in Florida? Whether you produce it from coal, gas or some mixture?
This is really climate hysteria. There is no mechanism by which any such effect could be brought about.
If you want to find something which could affect the weather in Florida, because it does affect the global climate and thus arguably the global weather?
China, with its 14 billion tons a year of emissions, and mining and burning more coal than the rest of the world pu
coal (Score:2)
Wyoming has huge coal deposits. If anyone thinks coal is not going to be used to power this, they need to think harder, no matter what they say. Power is fungible.
Kind of a low bar (Score:2)
Wichita, Kansas has more people than the entire state of Wyoming.