Enbridge Inc., a Canadian energy developer, has received construction and operation approval to build the largest solar power project in the State of Wyoming.
The $1.2 billion solar project will feature more than 1.2 million solar panels and will be crucial in supplying enough electricity to power large industrial corporate customers and support the influx of data centers coming online in south Cheyenne, including Meta and Microsoft data centers.
The 771 MW solar farm – known as Cowboy Solar I & II – will be built on 3,845 acres of leased private land just south of Cheyenne in Laramie County. This will generate enough electricity to power more than 771,000 homes annually – more than half of all the homes in Wyoming.
Cowboy Solar I will include 400 MW of solar power and 136 MW of battery storage, and Cowboy Solar II will have 371 MW of solar power and 133 MW of battery storage. The project will also feature raised solar panels so sheep and wildlife can graze under the panels, allowing the land to have multiple uses.
This solar project will also serve to provide a significant bump to Wyoming's solar energy production ranking in the US. Despite being the second-largest net energy supplier, second only to Texas, Wyoming mainly relies on coal to produce its energy supply. As a result, the state is currently ranked 46th in the nation for installed solar capacity, with only 124 MW total.
Enbridge revealed that while the project has received construction approval, Cowboy Solar is still in the early development phase, and the company will still need to conduct permitting work and interconnection studies with the local electric grid before further construction commences, which Enbridge projects will be completed in two phases over a 29-month period.
Construction is projected to commence in March 2025, and Cowboy Solar I is set for commercial operation by January 2027, with Cowboy Solar II coming online shortly after in August 2027.
