Updated July 2026: the Essential Edition and its companion database are refreshedGet it on Amazon→
WY — Power Infrastructure Updated 2026-07-17

Wyoming

WECC Solar Wind Storage Data Center PPAs Queue Bottlenecks

1) Grid operator and market structure

2) Interconnection queue (region)

  • Queue depth & backlog: LBNL’s latest Queued Up materials for projects through 2024 reported more than 10,300 active interconnection requests nationally, including about 1,400 GW of generation and 890 GW of storage. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025-04-10
  • Average wait times: LBNL reported that average time from interconnection request to commercial operation for built projects had grown to about 55 months, indicating multi-year study and build timelines for successful projects. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025-04-10
  • Wyoming-specific queue notes: Wyoming utilities are outside organized RTO/ISO queues, so generation/storage interconnection is handled through utility-specific OATT processes and large-load interconnection is generally handled through utility studies, local utilities, and service contracts rather than a single public ISO queue. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2025-04-10; Wyoming Public Service Commission, accessed 2026-06-10
  • FERC reforms: FERC Order 2023 reforms generator interconnection study processes, including cluster studies and readiness requirements for jurisdictional transmission providers serving Wyoming. FERC, 2023-07-27
  • June 2026 federal large-load action: FERC issued show-cause orders on June 18 directing six organized transmission operators to develop standardized large-load interconnection study rules and timelines. Because Wyoming is not in an ISO/RTO, those orders do not create a single Wyoming load queue or displace utility-specific service and transmission studies; their direct targets are the named organized markets. FERC, 2026-06-18; WECC, accessed 2026-07-17
  • Cooperative large-load pathways: A May 7, 2026 Wyoming Rural Electric Association working draft identified multiple cooperative service options for data centers and other large-scale industrial loads, including Basin Electric’s large-load commercial program, Tri-State’s island service concept, Tri-State’s High Impact Load Tariff/Bring Your Own Resource path, customer allocation agreements, and Deseret negotiated contracts. Wyoming Rural Electric Association, 2026-05-07

3) Ratepayer protection / large-load tariffs

  • Regulatory oversight: WPSC approval of tariffs, rates, and utility certificates remains the main statewide ratepayer-protection mechanism for public utilities. Wyoming Public Service Commission, accessed 2026-06-10
  • Existing large-load tariff structure: Rocky Mountain Power’s Wyoming tariff materials include Schedule 48T (Large General Service - Transmission) for transmission-level customers and special-contract provisions for atypical large loads. Rocky Mountain Power, accessed 2026-06-10
  • Negotiated service agreements: W.S. 37-3-116 authorizes negotiated service agreements for customers with projected load greater than 5 MW, subject to statutory findings that include ratepayer protections. Justia/Wyoming Statutes, accessed 2026-06-10
  • 2026 large-load tax bill failed: SF0076 would have defined a “very large electrical load” as at least 100 MW and changed sales-tax distribution for those loads, but failed introduction on February 10, 2026. Wyoming Legislature SF0076 introduced bill, 2026-02-10; Wyoming Legislature SF0076, 2026-02-10
  • Governor’s ratepayer directive: Executive Order 2026-03 and the governor’s June 3 release state that Wyoming’s framework is intended to make new data centers bear costs associated with their power demands and protect residential and small-business customers from unintended costs. Wyoming Governor, 2026-06-03
  • Co-op ratepayer-protection mechanics: The May 2026 cooperative working draft says large-load customers should pay the infrastructure needed to serve them and describes deposits, direct-assigned costs, security deposits, minimum-billing provisions, and rate riders as tools to avoid cost shifts to existing members. Wyoming Rural Electric Association, 2026-05-07
  • Black Hills large-customer transmission filing (pending): Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power filed Docket 20003-273-EM-26 on June 19 to create a Large Customer Transmission Cost Adjustment Mechanism (LCTCAM) and revise its Base TCAM, Large Power Contract Service (LPCS), and Blockchain Interruptible Service tariffs, with a requested January 1, 2027 effective date. The company says the mechanism would assign large-customer transmission costs on a cost-causation basis and protect base retail customers; comments and intervention were due August 4, so no final Commission ruling existed as of July 17. Wyoming Public Service Commission, 2026-07-07

4) Generation adequacy (projects and concerns)

  • Utility resource plans (regional): PacifiCorp’s 2025 IRP Update, dated March 31, 2026, relies on its October 2025 load forecast, notes additional new large-meter load in the preferred portfolio, and describes the addition of new committed near-term data-center load with corresponding resources. PacifiCorp 2025 IRP Update, 2026-03-31
  • Cheyenne Light 2026 IRP (pending acknowledgment): Cheyenne Light filed its 2026 IRP in Docket 20003-275-EA-26 on June 30. Its standard 10-year forecast shows a 95 MW capacity shortfall beginning in 2027 and evaluates natural-gas reciprocating internal-combustion engines and 50 MW of battery storage, but the filing explicitly excludes capacity needs for individually contracted LPCS customers. The docket therefore is not a complete public forecast of Cheyenne-area data-center load; comments were due August 10 and the Commission had not acted by July 17. Wyoming Public Service Commission, 2026-07-10
  • State transmission study enacted: SF0102 became Chapter 58 on March 6, 2026 and requires the Wyoming Energy Authority to study low, moderate, and high load-growth scenarios, transmission deliverability and congestion constraints, advanced transmission technologies, storage, and utility participation in regional markets. Wyoming Legislature SF0102, 2026-03-06; Wyoming Legislature SF0102 enrolled act, 2026-03-06
  • Energy dominance fund enacted: SF0123 created the Wyoming energy dominance fund, authorizing grants and loans for Wyoming energy needs, baseload energy development, pipeline infrastructure, energy exports, and grid innovations, while excluding grants for wind or solar projects. Wyoming Legislature SF0123, 2026-03-07; Wyoming Legislature SF0123 enrolled act, 2026-03-07
  • Data-center-linked generation projects: Power Engineering reported in May that Tallgrass’s Cheyenne Power Hub is projected to exceed $7 billion and supply the campus then known as Project Jade, while Prometheus’ Evanston permit announcement describes dedicated off-grid power infrastructure. Site Layer 4’s July Wheatland proposal likewise pairs a data center with co-located utility-scale generation, although no approved MW total or interconnection plan had been published by July 17. Power Engineering, 2026-05-28; Prometheus Hyperscale, 2026-06-17; Cowboy State Daily, 2026-07-13
  • Adequacy risk from scale: Prometheus’ Uinta County proposal alone was described as a 1.25 GW campus, and Project Jade’s first phase was reported at 1.8 GW with potential expansion to 10 GW, making data centers material to Wyoming’s load-growth scenarios rather than a marginal retail class. Cowboy State Daily, 2026-05-28; Data Center Dynamics, 2026-01-08
  • July update — Project Jade is now Google Project Tembo: a June 30 Laramie County amendment identified Google, through Jupiter Star Holdings LLC, as developer of the renamed Project Tembo, a 716-acre, 2.7 GW campus targeting 2031. The application describes a blend of customer-provided power and Black Hills Energy service rather than a fully isolated load; Crusoe’s development role paused, while Tallgrass said the associated power-hub work continued. Cowboy State Daily, 2026-07-08; Data Center Dynamics, 2026-07-14

5) Utility load forecasts and IRP treatment of data centers

  • Explicit data-center / large-meter-load treatment: PacifiCorp’s March 31, 2026 IRP Update says the 2025 IRP modeled no new large-meter load, used all-in and constrained large-meter-load studies, and then completed the preferred portfolio by adding new committed near-term data-center load and corresponding resources; it also says additional large-meter-load studies are planned for the 2027 IRP. PacifiCorp 2025 IRP Update, 2026-03-31
  • Cheyenne Light forecast boundary: Cheyenne Light’s June 30 IRP projects a 95 MW shortfall in its standard forecast beginning in 2027 but excludes separately contracted LPCS capacity needs, making the concurrent LCTCAM/LPCS docket essential to understanding how large data-center-related transmission costs may be assigned. Wyoming Public Service Commission, 2026-07-10; Wyoming Public Service Commission, 2026-07-07
  • Load-growth scenario planning now codified: SF0102 moves the load-growth question from utility planning alone into a state-directed transmission study with reports due by November 1, 2027 for phase one and September 1, 2028 for phase two. Wyoming Legislature SF0102 enrolled act, 2026-03-06
  • Cooperative territory exposure: The May 2026 WREA document states Wyoming cooperatives serve most of the state’s geography and are primary providers of electric infrastructure for industrial development; it also notes that a single 300 MW+ data center could push a cooperative past Wyoming’s 2 billion kWh annual-sales threshold for PSC rate regulation. Wyoming Rural Electric Association, 2026-05-07

6) Behind-the-meter / co-location / direct supply arrangements

  • Co-located generation for data centers: Wyoming proposals increasingly pair data centers with dedicated generation. Prometheus says its now-permitted Evanston campus will use a fully islanded on-site natural-gas microgrid; Tembo proposes customer-supplied generation plus Black Hills service; and the pending Site Layer 4 proposal includes co-located utility-scale generation. Prometheus Hyperscale, 2026-06-17; Data Center Dynamics, 2026-07-14; Cowboy State Daily, 2026-07-13
  • Proposed non-public-generator rules: WPSC opened Docket 90000-193-XO-26 to add Chapter 6 rules for non-public utility generators and issued an amended notice on May 27. Because the rulemaking was still proposed as of July 17, it should be tracked for its possible effect on dedicated or islanded generation but not described as an adopted large-load rule. Wyoming Public Service Commission, 2026-05-27
  • Direct procurement remains constrained: HB0139 and HB0174 did not pass, so large customers generally remain in a regulated utility/cooperative service model using negotiated contracts, utility tariffs, cooperative arrangements, or physical off-grid/island configurations rather than statewide retail choice. Wyoming Legislature HB0139, 2026-02-11; Wyoming Legislature HB0174, 2026-02-13; Wyoming Rural Electric Association, 2026-05-07
  • Tri-State HILT/BYOR update: the WREA working draft says Tri-State refiled its High Impact Load Tariff with FERC on March 26, 2026 and describes the BYOR option as a way for a cooperative to develop a generation resource associated with a specific large load. Wyoming Rural Electric Association, 2026-05-07

7) Transmission constraints and upgrades

Method note