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WY — Power Infrastructure Updated January 8, 2026

Wyoming

WECC Natural Gas Nuclear Solar Wind Storage Data Center PPAs Queue Bottlenecks Transmission Constraints

Overview

Wyoming is building one of the largest wind projects in North America — the 3,500 MW Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm — paired with a 2,000 MW gas plant to firm the output and multi-state transmission lines to carry the power west and south. TerraPower’s Natrium reactor in Kemmerer will add 345 MW of advanced nuclear by the end of the decade. Black Hills Energy is spending $540 million to connect the state’s northern and southern grids and has signed data center contracts with Microsoft and Meta under a new large power tariff.

Generation Projects

Natural Gas

Seminoe Generating Station near Sinclair will provide 2,000 MW of gas generation to firm the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project. The plant is described as hydrogen-capable and carbon-capture-ready.[1]

Nuclear

TerraPower’s Natrium demonstration project in Kemmerer is a sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten-salt energy storage. The reactor will produce 345 MW baseline and can boost output to 500 MW during peak demand. Land purchase for the site was completed in August 2023.[2]

Solar

Two major solar projects are underway in Laramie County:

  • South Cheyenne Solar Facility is operational as of April 2024 at 150 MW.[3]
  • Cowboy Solar is a two-phase project with 400 MW in Phase I and 365 MW plus 133 MW of battery storage in Phase II. Approvals are underway.[4]

Wind

Wyoming’s wind pipeline is dominated by one enormous project:

  • Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Carbon County is planned at 3,500 MW and roughly 600 turbines, making it one of the largest wind developments in North America.[5]
  • Cedar Springs Phase IV in Converse County adds 393 MW and was awaiting construction as of May 2024.[6]

Transmission and Grid

Wyoming is building multi-state transmission lines to export wind power and connect the state’s fragmented grids:

  • Gateway South is a 416-mile, 500 kV line from the Aeolus Substation near Medicine Bow to the Clover Substation near Mona, Utah. The line is designed to integrate new generation and meet load growth in the Southwest.[7]
  • TransWest Express was approved by BLM in April 2023. The 732-mile line provides 3,000 MW of transmission capacity to carry Wyoming wind power to the Southwest.[8]
  • Black Hills Energy north-south grid connection is a $540 million pair of projects to connect northern and southern Wyoming grids, a major in-state upgrade to serve new large loads.[9]

Battery Storage

Battery storage is appearing alongside solar projects:

  • Cowboy Solar Phase II includes a 133 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Laramie County.[4]
  • Seminoe Pumped Storage in Carbon County is under FERC review. The rPlus Hydro project is planned at 900 MW and will include a new reservoir and transmission line.[6]

Data Center Power Agreements

Wyoming is attracting data center contracts through new utility tariffs and advanced nuclear partnerships:

  • Black Hills Energy Large Power Contract Service (LPCS) tariff was established in partnership with Microsoft and allows the utility to procure power via purchased power agreements for large data center customers. The utility lists Microsoft and Meta as key customers under the tariff.[11]
  • Oklo + Wyoming Hyperscale signed a non-binding letter of intent for Oklo to supply 100 MWe of small modular reactor power to Wyoming Hyperscale’s data center campus.[10]

Interconnection Queue

Wyoming’s interconnection queue reflects the scale of planned wind and solar projects. The queue contains 75 active requests totaling 16.72 GW of generation seeking grid access.[12]

Large data center customers under the Black Hills Energy LPCS tariff pay for incremental load-serving substations, distribution upgrades, and transmission upgrades — a sign that local interconnection bottlenecks are emerging for megawatt-scale loads.[11]

Gateway South and TransWest Express are multi-year, high-voltage projects explicitly designed to carry new generation and meet load growth. Their long construction schedules are a binding constraint for Wyoming’s export-oriented power projects.[7][8]

What to Watch

  • TerraPower Natrium construction timeline — the Kemmerer reactor is the first Natrium unit in the U.S. and could set the pace for advanced nuclear deployment.
  • Chokecherry-Sierra Madre final approvals — the 3,500 MW project is the largest wind farm under development and depends on transmission line completion.
  • Black Hills Energy data center contracts — watch whether Microsoft and Meta contracts expand or whether new hyperscale customers join under the LPCS tariff.

Sources

[1] Power Company of Wyoming, “Seminoe Generating Station,” n.d., https://www.powercompanyofwyoming.com/gas-generation/index.shtml (accessed January 8, 2026).

[2] TerraPower, “TerraPower Purchases Land in Kemmerer, Wyoming for Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project,” August 16, 2023, https://www.terrapower.com/terrapower-purchases-land-in-kemmerer-wyoming-for-natrium-reactor-demonstration-project/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[3] Southern Power (Southern Company), “Southern Power’s South Cheyenne Solar Facility in Wyoming is now operational,” April 30, 2024, https://southerncompany.mediaroom.com/2024-04-30-Southern-Powers-South-Cheyenne-Solar-Facility-in-Wyoming-is-now-operational (accessed January 8, 2026).

[4] Enbridge, “Cowboy Solar and BESS Project,” n.d., https://www.enbridge.com/projects-and-infrastructure/public-awareness/cowboy-solar-and-bess-project (accessed January 8, 2026).

[5] Power Company of Wyoming, “Wind Generation - Chokecherry and Sierra Madre,” n.d., https://www.powercompanyofwyoming.com/wind-generation/index.shtml (accessed January 8, 2026).

[6] Wyoming Legislative Service Office, “Recent Wyoming Energy Projects,” Kelly Lower, May 2024, https://wyoleg.gov/InterimCommittee/2024/S37-202405294-0124FS013RecentWyomingEnergyProjects.pdf (accessed January 8, 2026).

[7] PacifiCorp, “Gateway South Transmission Line Fact Sheet,” n.d., https://pacificorp.com/content/dam/pcorp/documents/en/pacificorp/transmission/Gateway-South-Fact-Sheet.pdf (accessed January 8, 2026).

[8] U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “BLM approves construction of TransWest Express transmission project,” April 11, 2023, https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-approves-construction-transwest-express-transmission-project-0 (accessed January 8, 2026).

[9] Leo Wolfson, “Black Hills Energy Spending $540M To Connect North-South Wyoming Power Grids,” Cowboy State Daily, June 19, 2025, https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/06/19/black-hills-energy-spending-540m-to-connect-north-south-wyoming-power-grids/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[10] “Oklo secures contract to supply nuclear power to Wyoming Hyperscale’s data centre campus,” Nuclear Engineering International, May 29, 2024, https://www.neimagazine.com/supply-chain/oklo-secures-contract-to-supply-nuclear-power-to-wyoming-hyperscales-data-centre-campus/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[11] Black Hills Energy, “Data Center Briefing,” Joint Corporations Committee, July 30, 2024, https://wyoleg.gov/InterimCommittee/2024/07-202407303-04DataCenterPresentationJointCorporationsCommitteeJuly2024.pdf (accessed January 8, 2026).

[12] Interconnection.fyi, “Latest Active Wyoming Generation Interconnection Queue Requests,” n.d., https://www.interconnection.fyi/?state=WY (accessed January 8, 2026).