Wyoming’s new AI data center will consume five times more electricity than the entire state’s households combined. Yet no one knows who’s behind it.
Located near Cheyenne, the facility will begin with a 1.8-gigawatt capacity and expand to 10 gigawatts more than five times the power used by every home in Wyoming. “The initial 1.8-gigawatt phase… is more than five times the electricity used by every household in the state combined.” https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/07/ai-in-wyoming-may-soon-use-more-electricity-than-states-human-residents/
The project’s tenant remains undisclosed. Crusoe, the operator, won’t confirm if OpenAI is involved. At full scale, the center will demand 87.6 terawatt-hours annually double Wyoming’s entire electricity production. “A joint venture between Tallgrass and Crusoe… would scale up to 10 gigawatts. Crusoe declined to confirm if OpenAI is the tenant.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cheyenne-to-host-massive-ai-data-center-using-more-electricity-than-all-wyoming-homes-combined/ar-AA1Jt0gT
AI’s power appetite is staggering. A single ChatGPT query burns about 2.9 watt-hours, compared to just 0.3 watt-hours for a regular web search. “A typical ChatGPT request uses approximately 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, compared to 0.3 watt-hours for a standard web search.” https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-wyoming-ai-facility-power-consumption/
Some AI operations consume hundreds of times more energy than traditional software. Image generation is the worst offender, using up to 6,833 times more power than simple text classification. “At the extremes, the least efficient image generation consumed 6,833 times more energy than the most efficient text generation.” https://www.exove.com/blogs/gartners-technology-trends-for-2025-energy-efficient-computing-ai-energy-consumption-and-its-management/
Electricity prices are soaring, and states are feeling the pressure. In 2024, grid prices in the PJM region jumped 900%, largely driven by demand from data centers. Consumers end up footing the bill. “Electricity bills surged across the eastern U.S.… roughly three-quarters of the price hike was tied to demand from current and planned data centers.” https://www.newsweek.com/ai-data-centers-why-electric-bill-so-high-2109965
Utilities are quietly shifting these extra costs onto households. “Monitoring Analytics estimates an additional $9.3 billion in future costs will start hitting consumer bills this month.” https://www.newsweek.com/ai-data-centers-why-electric-bill-so-high-2109965
Some states like Oregon and New Jersey are pushing laws to make data centers pay more. Most states have yet to act. “Lawmakers passed legislation ordering regulators to develop new, presumably higher, power rates for data centers.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as-electric-bills-rise-evidence-mounts-that-data-centers-share-blame-states-feel-pressure-to-act/ar-AA1KbQJu
Meanwhile, utilities ask residents to raise thermostats to 78 degrees while massive data centers run full throttle without slowing down.