Data centers in Wyoming have struggled to find the power they require outside of Cheyenne. One of them is now consulting a well-known Wyoming expert to help him navigate the energy and regulatory landscape.
Prometheus Hyperscale, which plans to locate on a ranch near Evanston on the Utah border, has announced the hiring of Wyoming Public Service Commissioner Mary Throne as its new general counsel, effective August 4.
Throne told Cowboy State Daily that her last day with the Wyoming PSC will be August 1, cutting short her appointment, which runs until March 2027.
Throne accepted the position because she is excited about the challenges it will bring, she told Cowboy State Daily. She also wants to see more data centers succeed in Wyoming locations other than Cheyenne.
“I love the job I have now and certainly appreciate Gov. (Mark) Gordon giving me the opportunity he’s given me the last several years to be on the commission,” he said. “But Prometheus is simply an exciting opportunity for Wyoming.
“We have an abundance of energy and potential. It will be exciting to see this project through to completion.”
Throne stated that the success of multiple data centers moving into Cheyenne before her time on the PSC demonstrates how creative collaborations can make a difference.
“It’s just a situation where I think the utility was proactive and came to the commission with a solution to make those data centers possible in Cheyenne,” she told the audience. “That large power tariff predates my involvement on the commission, but I think it shows that if you collaborate and work together and you’re creative, you can come up with a solution.”
Wyoming Wrestling With Complex Energy Issues
Wyoming has long been an energy state, but it now faces increasingly complex challenges in the sector.
Throne was instrumental in all of this while serving on the Public Service Commission. Rates and affordability, new transmission lines, renewable energy integration, grid reliability, wildfire mitigation, and an increasingly difficult regulatory environment are just a few of the thorny issues that have dominated the Public Service Commission’s agenda during her tenure.
“We do have a lot of challenges in the energy space,” he said. “We’ve discussed many of them, including wildfires, reliability issues, and the changing grid. And now, on top of that, we’ve included this AI discussion.”
When it comes to AI and Wyoming, Throne believes it is critical to view them as opportunities rather than challenges.
Those possibilities involve “the jobs this will create, and the revenue it creates in Wyoming, and then the ability to use Wyoming energy.”
Wyoming exports 15 times more power than it consumes, but it is struggling to obtain the infrastructure required to reduce that power for state projects.
That has hampered the growth of data centers along I-80, which is co-located with the fiber optics required by data centers and artificial intelligence centers but lacks ready access to the power those centers will require. Sweetwater County is among the communities that have told Cowboy State Daily that they have had difficulty connecting power to interested data centers.
A combination of outdated infrastructure contributes to the problem, but Throne also sees challenges in protecting ratepayers.
“The (Public Service) Commission, regardless of which state they are in, are charged with protecting ratepayers,” she told me. “So, you have to take advantage of opportunities in a way that doesn’t harm existing ratepayers.”
About Prometheus Hyperscale
Prometheus Hyperscale is investing $10 billion in its massive 1-gigawatt AI Data Center near Evanston, located on a ranch run by the same family for six generations in Wyoming.
Trenton Thornock, the company’s CEO and founder, previously told Cowboy State Daily that he chose to build his innovative data center on his family’s ranch in southwest Wyoming because he didn’t see many data centers outside of Cheyenne, let alone in his part of the state.
Thornock believes his company will have the world’s largest single data center once it is completed, as it will be much larger than the Microsoft data center in Cheyenne, which is only slightly more than 235 megawatts.
The data center near Evanston will also be unique in that it will be liquid-cooled. Thornock began his project in 2020, before there were any major AI deployments. Most data centers were air-cooled. That design is appropriate for cloud computing, but not for AI, which generates significantly more heat.
“People thought this was crazy,” Thornock said. “Because I said I was going to build a 12-megawatt facility in Wyoming that will be completely liquid-cooled. And they’re like, “Oh, good luck with that.” Nobody requires that level of infrastructure.”
Thornock’s early adoption of liquid cooling, however, has placed him squarely in the middle of an AI boom at the perfect time.
“Now everyone needs it,” he said.
Thornock has been discussing his project with a number of large, well-known technology companies, some of which are already based in Wyoming.
“We’ve also been talking to major artificial intelligence companies,” he told me. “I can’t say which ones, but people can guess who they are.”
Thornock intends to keep the Evanston facility as the company’s flagship, but he also wants to expand his model beyond Wyoming.
No Cookie-Cutter Solutions
However, before the flagship can expand, connectivity and power issues must be resolved. Throne stated that this will be her primary focus at Prometheus Hyperscale.
“It’s just a matter of connecting the dots to get the power and everything,” according to her. “I think it’s really just being able to collaborate and bring key players together to create this opportunity for Wyoming.”
Resolving those issues will benefit not only Prometheus Hyperscale in Evanston, but other locations across the state.
“There are examples where commissions have developed agreements or settlements or a tariff structure that protects ratepayers but also allows the community to have the data center,” according to her. “We’ll just have to find the right person for Wyoming for each project.”
She added that the solutions may differ depending on the location or company.
“It’s always going to be a work in progress,” she told me. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution out there. But I believe we can make it work in Wyoming. We’ve already made it work in Wyoming, and I believe we can make it work in other parts of the state.
Wyoming is likely to remain an energy-exporting state indefinitely, Throne added.
“But we should look for opportunities to use our abundant energy supply in Wyoming,” she replied. “And we should start thinking of this (AI boom) as an opportunity, not a problem.”
Throne suggested that if properly managed, Wyoming has the potential to become a growth state.
“There’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of smart people in this field, all across the board,” she told me. “This is going to be a growth sector for a long time to come.”
