Google acquired Crusoe’s data centre site in southeast Wyoming on 6 November, a day after announcing a $17 billion investment in its first Wyoming data centre, Reuters reported. The purchase concluded Crusoe’s work on choosing the site, securing government approvals and planning its power supply, the AI infrastructure developer said in its 6 November announcement.
Key points
- Crusoe and Tallgrass Energy developed the site and its power strategy before Google acquired it.
- The plan combines fuel cells, grid power and natural gas turbines, according to Crusoe.
- Crusoe says its capacity under contract exceeds 6 gigawatts, while its development pipeline exceeds 40 gigawatts.
Crusoe transfers the Wyoming site
Crusoe and Tallgrass Energy began developing the campus together, working on its power supply and data centre infrastructure in parallel. Crusoe said that work involved coordinating energy design, data centre engineering, site development and discussions with a prospective large-scale customer. Google’s acquisition ends Crusoe’s involvement in the Wyoming project’s pre-development phase.
The financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, Reuters reported. Google’s $17 billion announcement concerned its investment in the data centre project, rather than the price paid to Crusoe for the site. An earlier AI Affairs report on Google’s Wyoming commitment covered the investment and its power costs.
Chase Lochmiller, Crusoe’s co-founder and chief executive, described the company’s work before construction as “origination, entitlement, and de-risking”. Crusoe said the completed tasks included site selection, governmental approvals and a power strategy. The sale puts Google in charge of building the facility after those preparatory steps.
Tallgrass and three more construction partners
Google said it would build the facility with Tallgrass Energy, Black Hills Energy, American Electric Power and Related Digital, Reuters reported. Tallgrass had worked with Crusoe on the site before Google bought it. Black Hills is also the subject of an earlier AI Affairs report on its Google power agreements and planned $1.8 billion investment.
Crusoe said its hybrid power plan for the Wyoming campus combines fuel cells, electricity from the grid and natural gas turbines. The company also described a longer-term route to carbon capture through Tallgrass’s regional CO2 sequestration hub. Those elements were part of the power strategy Crusoe developed with Tallgrass before transferring the site.
The arrangements place Tallgrass in both stages of the project: it helped develop the power and data centre site with Crusoe, and Google named it among the partners for construction. Google also named Black Hills, American Electric Power and Related Digital for the build, extending the group involved beyond the companies that developed the site.
Crusoe cites more than 6 gigawatts contracted
Lochmiller put Crusoe’s capacity under contract at more than 6 gigawatts, alongside a development pipeline of over 40 gigawatts. The figures cover the company’s wider business, alongside its account of the Wyoming transaction. They distinguish capacity under contract from projects still in development, the two measures Crusoe used to describe its work.
Crusoe’s role in Wyoming covered work before construction rather than the build Google said it would undertake with its partners. The company said its development work there had involved both power infrastructure and the data centre site. Its wider contracted capacity and pipeline figures come from Lochmiller’s account of Crusoe’s business, not from a stated capacity for the Wyoming campus.
Crusoe is also developing a Google data centre campus in Armstrong County, outside Amarillo. That campus is under construction, according to Crusoe.
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