The construction of the 9GW Wonder Valley data center campus in Box Elder County, Utah has been given the greenlight. However, this comes amid passionate protests from residents who attended a meeting by the commission on Monday. The county’s three commissioners approved the “hyperscale” data center and energy project. It is backed by the Military Installation Development Authority and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary.
The move comes after the decision was postponed last week amid pressure from protestors urging caution. Moreover, state leaders called for a faster timeline. The proposal, which MIDA has dubbed the Stratos Project, is a large data center and energy campus planned on about 40,000 acres of land. The land is unincorporated land in Box Elder County, centered in Hansel Valley.
State boosters say the project, which would be developed by O’Leary Digital, would fund modern buildings at Hill Air Force Base. It is also expected to generate all of its own power, clean the water it uses and create 2,000 high-paying jobs in the rural area. The cleaned water will also be sent back to the Great Salt Lake, preserving the ecosystem.
Other Projects
Other data center projects across the United States, such as the Northpoint Keystone data center campus are also taking shape. NorthPoint Development is redeveloping the former U.S. Steel site in Falls Township, Bucks County, PA, into a major digital infrastructure hub known as the Keystone Trade Center. This project includes a massive data center campus primarily for Amazon Web Services (AWS), featuring up to 10 data center buildings as part of a wider industrial park.
Reason for Protests on the Wonder Valley Data Center in Utah
The main reason for concerns for the Wonder Valley data center in Utah among residents that is being channeled in protests is water usage. The data campus operators say they will purchase roughly 3,000 acre‑feet of water rights. It will also have around 10,000 acre‑feet under contract near Snowville if needed. These remarks were noted by Austin Pritchett, co-founder of developer West GenCo, partnering with O’Leary on the project.
All said, that’s enough water to support the indoor water needs of more than 20,000 Utah homes. The Division of Water Rights has received one application for water so far — to transfer 1,900 acre-feet currently used for irrigation by the Bar H Ranch to the developers. However, a division spokesperson said they anticipate more applications from the data center developers soon. Pritchett said only “a very small fraction” of water rights secured by project developers would be used.
A portion of the water would be shared with neighboring ranchers, he said, and passed to an aquifer that feeds into the Great Salt Lake. As of Friday last week, the Utah Division of Water Rights had received roughly 500 protests and also letters of concern over the water right application filed by the developers. Nearly all of the protests expressed concerns over Utah’s water shortages and also the struggling Great Salt Lake.
Project Factsheet: Stratos Project
- Project Name: Wonder Valley Data Center (Stratos Project)
- Location: Box Elder County, Utah, USA (Hansel Valley)
- Estimated Investment Value: Not disclosed
- Project Type: Hyperscale data center and also energy campus
Timeline
- 2026: Project approved by county commissioners
- Next Phase: Permitting, land development, and infrastructure planning
- Future: Phased construction based on power and resource availability
Site & Scale
- Total Capacity: Up to 9GW
- Land Area: ~40,000 acres
- Project Type: Large-scale integrated data center and energy development
- Employment Impact: ~2,000 jobs expected
Project Teams
- Backer: Military Installation Development Authority
- Lead Investor: Kevin O’Leary
- Developer: O’Leary Digital
- Development Partner: West GenCo
Infrastructure Scope
- Hyperscale data center campus
- On-site power generation (self-sustaining energy system)
- Water treatment and also recycling systems
- Transmission and also grid interconnection infrastructure
- Also supports facilities across a large multi-phase campus
Strategic Objectives
- Expand U.S. data center capacity for cloud and AI workloads
- Support economic development in rural Utah
- Fund infrastructure improvements at Hill Air Force Base
Challenges
- Strong local opposition over water usage
- Also concerns about impact on the Great Salt Lake ecosystem
- Water rights acquisition and regulatory approvals
Current Status
- Project approved despite widespread protests
- Water rights applications under review with significant opposition
- Also developers advancing planning and resource acquisition
- Project moving into early-stage implementation and also permitting
