> Methods note: This refresh checked Alaska legislative records, Anchorage and borough records, RCA/AEA/AIDEA materials, federal solicitations, state land proceedings, project announcements, and Alaska news sources for developments from February 1, 2026 through July 17, 2026. Citations are explicit URLs; “accessed” dates are used for live official-status pages that do not publish a separate update date.
1) Incentive programs
- State sales/use tax: Alaska still has no statewide sales tax; sales taxes are local, so data-center equipment sales/use tax relief would have to be municipal or borough-based rather than a state exemption program. Tax Foundation, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska’s Office of the State Assessor continues to publish municipal tax and assessment data through the Alaska Taxable database. Alaska DCCED Taxable Database, accessed 2026-07-17
- Local sales/use and property-tax authority: Alaska local governments retain the relevant role for municipal sales and property taxes. Alaska DCCED Taxation & Assessment, accessed 2026-07-17 State law allows a municipality to exempt economic-development property by ordinance for up to five years, which could cover a data center if a local government adopted that treatment. Alaska Stat. sec. 29.45.050, 2023
- State financing tools (not data-center-specific): AIDEA continues to advertise its loan-guarantee program, and AEA continues to administer the Renewable Energy Fund; neither is a data-center tax incentive. AIDEA Loan Guarantee Program, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Energy Authority Renewable Energy Fund, accessed 2026-07-17
- New AIDEA due-diligence capacity: On July 8, the AIDEA board adopted Resolution G26-08, reconstituting a standing due-diligence fund of up to $4.5 million for pre-feasibility, legal, technical, environmental, permitting, market, risk, and site work across eligible sectors expressly including data centers. The resolution permits work before a formal project decision and does not require reimbursement in every case; it is a broad project-development tool, not a data-center-specific grant, tax preference, or disclosed award to a data-center project. AIDEA Resolution G26-08, 2026-07-08
- AEA proposed demand-development policies: AEA’s February Statewide Railbelt Energy Vision calls for an RFP to attract new industrial customers, an energy tax credit for new industrial customers, and identification of load-friendly sites; it specifically identifies Railbelt data-center development and notes that one data center could require as much as 1 GW. These are recommendations in a planning vision, not enacted incentives. Alaska Energy Authority Statewide Railbelt Energy Vision, 2026-02-26 Alaska Energy Authority press release, 2026-02-26
- 2026 outcome: No Alaska data-center tax incentive, rebate, exemption, or credit was enacted between February 1 and July 17. HB 259 and SB 250 were regulatory and ratepayer-protection proposals; both failed at the May 20 sine-die adjournment. Alaska Legislature HB 259 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Legislature SB 250 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Senate Journal, 2026-05-20
2) Restrictions and moratoriums
- Anchorage adopted data-center zoning rules: The Municipality of Anchorage adopted AO 2026-27(S) on March 24, creating the state’s clearest data-center-specific local land-use framework. It defines a data center as a facility or co-located facilities with at least 20 MW peak demand, distinguishes fewer than 2,000 servers from 2,000 or more, and requires conditional-use review in specified commercial or industrial zones. Municipality of Anchorage Title 21 Updates, 2026-03-24 Municipality of Anchorage AO 2026-27, 2026-02-17
- Anchorage impact mitigation: The ordinance requires visual and noise mitigation, setbacks from sound-sensitive uses, a noise study, utility statements on electric/water/wastewater capacity, fire-protection evidence, and disclosures about onsite generation, water recycling, heat recovery, and other mitigation. Municipality of Anchorage AO 2026-27, 2026-02-17 Anchorage’s general noise ordinance, AMC 15.70, also remains applicable. Municipality of Anchorage Community Noise page, accessed 2026-07-17
- No statewide moratorium or ban: Alaska enacted no statewide data-center moratorium or construction ban during the review period. HB 259 and SB 250 proposed service-contract, cost-allocation, reliability, reporting, decommissioning, and community-benefit controls, but both died when the regular session adjourned. Alaska Legislature HB 259 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Legislature SB 250 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Senate Journal, 2026-05-20
- STAK lease remains preliminary; comment period extended: DNR’s May 12 preliminary decision proposed a 50-year lease of 715.4 acres near Dalton Highway Milepost 390 to STAK Energy. On June 17, citing significant public interest, DNR extended the comment deadline from June 15 to 4:30 p.m. on July 17; therefore, no final finding and decision could precede the close of the extended comment period. Alaska DNR original public notice, 2026-05-12 Alaska DNR comment-extension notice, 2026-06-17
- STAK opposition and environmental review: By early July, DNR had received more than 500 comments, fewer than a dozen supportive and the large majority opposed; critics raised greenhouse-gas, permafrost, wildlife, water, public-return, and financial-assurance questions. DNR said it would assess comments after the deadline before issuing a final decision. Alaska Beacon, 2026-07-06 Northern Alaska Environmental Center, 2026-05-28
- Water regulation and project claims: Significant withdrawals remain subject to Alaska’s water-appropriation system. Alaska Stat. sec. 46.15.040, 2019 Petersburg Municipal Power & Light said Greensparc’s proposal would use closed-loop cooling, while DNR said STAK’s planned dry-air cooling would avoid the continuous evaporative-cooling demand common at lower-latitude facilities; these are project assertions, not permit findings. Petersburg Municipal Power & Light FAQ, 2026-04-28 Alaska DNR Preliminary Decision ADL 422741, 2026-05-12
3) Local governance
- State law defers to local zoning: Municipalities retain authority over zoning districts, permitted uses, and conditional approvals. Alaska Stat. sec. 29.40.040, 2022
- Wrangell rejected Greensparc’s site proposal: On June 9, the Borough Assembly approved the administration’s recommendation to deny Greensparc’s proposed lease at the 6-Mile Deepwater Port. The record cited public opposition, port-commission comments, the desire to preserve the site for maritime/shipyard or Coast Guard use, and concerns about power priority, low-water hydropower conditions, and rates. City and Borough of Wrangell June 9 agenda packet, 2026-06-09 City and Borough of Wrangell June 23 packet containing the June 9 minutes, 2026-06-23
- Petersburg proposal remains pre-application: PMPL’s April FAQ said the borough had received neither a building-permit application nor project plans for Greensparc’s private Petersburg proposal, and May reporting likewise found no filed permit or service application. Petersburg Municipal Power & Light FAQ, 2026-04-28 Data Center Dynamics, 2026-05-15
- Mat-Su data-center marketing partnership: On March 17, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly voted 6-1 to override the mayor’s veto of a resolution directing a two-year staff partnership with Terra Energy Center Corp. to identify prospective companies for a data center or other large energy-use facility on borough land near Port MacKenzie, Big Lake, or the proposed West Susitna Access Road. The resolution did not approve a land sale, lease, permit, tenant, or project. Alaska Public Media/Mat-Su Sentinel, 2026-03-19 Matanuska-Susitna Borough mayoral veto, 2026-03-05
- Proposed AIDEA industrial district near Houston: On July 10, DNR preliminarily approved a proposed no-cost conveyance of about 19,950 acres two miles north of Houston to AIDEA for a multi-use industrial and energy-development district. AIDEA’s concept includes scalable data centers among possible uses, but identifies no tenant, project approval, MW, investment, or jobs; the conveyance remains open for comment through August 19 and would remain subject to borough zoning and platting. Alaska DNR public notice, 2026-07-10 Alaska DNR Preliminary Decision ADL 234207, 2026-07-10
4) Legislative activity (2024-2026)
- SB 113 (34th Legislature): The highly digitized businesses apportionment bill was not enacted; the Legislature lists “VETO SUSTAINED” with a January 22, 2026 status date. Alaska Legislature SB 113 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17
- HB 259 — died: HB 259, “Large Energy Use Facilities,” was introduced January 20 and heard in House Energy on January 29 and February 3. It received no further action and died in House Energy when the Legislature adjourned sine die May 20. Alaska Legislature HB 259 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Senate Journal, 2026-05-20
- HB 259 design: The bill would have required utility contracts for large energy-use facilities, direct assignment of infrastructure and variable costs, protection against cost shifting, separate utility accounting, and municipal community-benefit agreements. It used thresholds of 20 MW or 20% of prior-year electric sales, or 2 Bcf/year or 20% of prior-year gas sales, whichever was smaller. Alaska Legislature HB 259 bill text, 2026-01-20
- SB 250 — passed Senate, then died: SB 250, “Data Centers, Utilities,” was introduced February 18, passed the Senate May 16, moved to House Community & Regional Affairs, and was heard and held there May 18. The House took no final action before the May 20 sine-die adjournment, so the bill was not enacted. Alaska Legislature SB 250 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17 Alaska Senate Journal, 2026-05-20
- SB 250 design: The Senate committee substitute would have required utility data-center contracts to be filed with the RCA; directly assigned infrastructure and variable costs; protected other customers; required backup-power, reliability, financial-security, decommissioning, recycling, water, waste-heat, broadband-cost, and digital-equity terms; and kept data-center-specific transmission from initially entering backbone cost allocation. It exempted facilities below both 15 MW peak utility electric demand and 1.5 Bcf/year utility gas demand. Alaska Legislature CSSB 250(CRA), 2026-04-22
- HCR 28 — died: HCR 28 was a procedural resolution to suspend uniform rules concerning SB 250. It was introduced in the House May 18 and did not advance before adjournment; it created no substantive policy. Alaska Legislature HCR 28 bill history, accessed 2026-07-17
5) Notable projects and operators
- GCI (Anchorage): GCI continues to market a 10,000-square-foot Anchorage data center with 24/7 monitoring and 99.99% availability. GCI Network Investments, accessed 2026-07-17
- Far North Digital (Prudhoe Bay): Far North Digital continues to describe a planned Tier 3-4 co-location project with a 43-acre pad expandable to 100 acres and prospective initial generation capacity of 120 MW. Far North Digital Prudhoe Bay Data Center, accessed 2026-07-17
- Greensparc: Greensparc’s 150-kW Cordova hydro-powered module remains its operating Alaska example. Greensparc Cordova Electric Data Center, accessed 2026-07-17 Petersburg’s concept remains a 1-MW initial/2-MW full-build proposal at the former Ocean Beauty Seafoods plant using an existing private transformer, while Wrangell denied the proposed 6-Mile site lease on June 9. Petersburg Municipal Power & Light FAQ, 2026-04-28 City and Borough of Wrangell June 23 packet containing the June 9 minutes, 2026-06-23
- STAK Energy (North Slope): The proposed campus remains a preliminary 715.4-acre state lease with a roughly 640-acre pad, 1.8-mile access road, 1-3 GW of onsite gas generation, modular high-performance-computing buildings, and no Railbelt or other utility-grid interconnection; its separate gas-pipeline right-of-way would require another application and public process. Alaska DNR Preliminary Decision ADL 422741, 2026-05-12 A company representative told Alaska Beacon that the full project would exceed $10 billion; that figure supersedes neither DNR’s narrower approximately $500 million estimate for initial site, road, pad, camp, and support work nor the need for a final lease decision, financing, customers, and permits. Alaska Beacon, 2026-07-06 Alaska DNR Preliminary Decision ADL 422741, 2026-05-12
- Department of the Air Force AI data-center solicitation: After a February RFI, the Air Force in April offered approximately 4,700 acres across 12 parcels at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson AFB, and Clear Space Force Station for one or more privately financed, permitted, built, and operated AI data centers under enhanced-use leases. Offers closed June 29; SAM.gov marked the solicitation inactive July 14 and identifies no selected developer or award. U.S. Air Force RFI announcement, 2026-02-23 U.S. Air Force solicitation announcement, 2026-04-10 SAM.gov solicitation AFCEC-26-R-0006, updated 2026-07-14
- Mat-Su concepts: The Terra partnership is a two-year marketing effort rather than an approved facility, and the separate AIDEA/Houston concept is a pending state-land conveyance for a broad industrial district that could host scalable data centers. Neither discloses a committed tenant, investment, MW, or construction schedule. Alaska Public Media/Mat-Su Sentinel, 2026-03-19 Alaska DNR Preliminary Decision ADL 234207, 2026-07-10
- Hilcorp / TA Infrastructure pilot (North Slope/Endicott): The previously reported 1.4-MW bitcoin-mining pilot at the Endicott oilfield remains historical context; no later public project-status document was located in the review period. Anchorage Daily News/Northern Journal, 2024-11-24