The biggest solar power project proposed in Wyoming got the green light this week from state regulators.
The $1.2 billion solar farm, with more than 1.2 million panels and occupying 3,845 acres or more than 6 full sections of land south of Cheyenne, will be built by Enbridge Inc. of Canada.
Approval came from the Industrial Siting Division of Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality. It considered the application for four months before giving the nod of approval.
Construction won’t begin until 2025 and the 771-megawatt farm wll be built on private land leases located about 4 miles southeast of Cheyenne. Work on Cowboy Solar 1 won’t start until March of that year and end in early 2027. Construction on Cowboy Solar 2 won’t get underway until the summer of 2027.
Once made operational, the farms will generate enough electricity to power 771,000 homes. That’s more than exist in the state but developers and supporters also note that much of the electricity will also go to power the growing infrastructure of data centers in Cheyenne. In fact, Enbridge intends to offer the electricity to large industrial corproate customers in the state and no homeowners will receive power from the farm.