CHEYENNE — Project Cosmo, an $800 million, 750,000-square-foot data center development in south Cheyenne, has been discussed since work on the project began seven years ago.
On Tuesday, it was officially unveiled as a data center for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
The announcement was made to an audience of about 100 people at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center, including U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins and other local and state elected officials.
New investment in Meta datacenter
From left: Mayor Patrick Collins, Wyoming Business Council hiring manager Wendy Lopez, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Sen. John Barrasso, Meta Director of Community and Economic Development for Data Centers Bradley Davis, Gov. Mark Gordon and Cheyenne LEADS CEO Betsey Hale pose for a photo together during an announcement event for a new investment in Meta Data Centers at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center on Tuesday.
“I am truly proud to welcome Meta to Cheyenne and Wyoming,” Collins said as he announced the company behind Project Cosmo, drawing applause from the crowd.
Bradley Davis, Meta’s director of community and economic development for data centers, said the development will bring about 1,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs to the area over the next two years.
Davis described the data center as the engine that will power apps and services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Simply put, it’s a series of networked computers that store, process and transmit data around the world. This data center in particular is being designed specifically to handle artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.
“It’s cutting-edge technology,” Davis said. “I couldn’t be more excited to have it here in Cheyenne.”
When Collins first spoke to Meta about the project, he shared concerns about water usage in the area. Davis said it’s a goal of the company to work with the needs of the communities where they develop data centers. In response, Meta opted to use a closed-loop fluid system, which Davis said is the most water-efficient option.
Additionally, he said the center, located on a 960-acre parcel in the High Plains Business Park, will run on 100 percent renewable energy sources.
Although the development is being done in partnership with Black Hills Energy, Meta has yet to specify which renewable energy projects they intend to use, but they are currently evaluating options.
Dustin McKen, Black Hills Energy program manager for Wyoming, said that if they are selected as the energy supplier for the project, they will likely have to create or purchase renewable energy from other suppliers to transport to Cheyenne and deliver to Meta in order to meet their renewable energy goal. He also noted that Black Hills customers should not expect rate increases if they are selected as the energy supplier.
Davis did not say how much water or energy use is estimated at the facility, but noted that Meta publishes annual environmental impact reports for all of its data centers. He said he expects the numbers to be comparable to existing data centers of a similar size.
While it’s hard to say how much energy the project will require, a few comparable data centers can provide some insight. Meta’s Stanton Springs Data Center in Newton County, Georgia, was a $1 billion investment in 2018, so it’s slightly larger than the Cheyenne facility. According to Meta’s environmental data reports, that facility consumed 636,266 megawatt-hours in 2022, enough energy to power nearly 60,000 U.S. homes based on average annual consumption. That same year, it emitted 535 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the average annual emissions of 116 cars.
Lummis said it’s important to keep energy production and energy use within the Cowboy State.
“Wyoming produces 12 times more energy than it consumes. And we’ve gotten into the habit of taking our resources and taking them somewhere else,” said Lummis, who is from Cheyenne. “Well, that’s not the future of Wyoming. The future of Wyoming is generating our industry for use in our own state, by our own people, with industries that we invite,” she said. “… Because we do it right, we can provide affordable, abundant, redundant energy that’s provided by people who can make it cleaner than anywhere else in the world.”
Collins was excited about the potential millions of dollars in state and local taxes the project would generate.
“Meta, I want to thank you for your investment in our community and for the great partnership I know we’ll have in the years to come,” he said.
Davis said he envisioned this partnership as one where the trillion-dollar company could somehow give back to the community.
Meta’s community action grants program provides direct funding to schools, registered nonprofits, and community-based organizations in locations where they have a data center. In Eagle Mountain, Utah, where Meta has a data center, Meta has awarded an average of $210,000 in these community action grants between 2020 and 2023.
The new facility will be Meta’s 25th data center globally and is expected to come online in 2027.
