A billion-dollar solar farm approximately the size of 4,000 football fields is seeking approval for construction in the southeast of Wyoming.
Canadian energy multinational Enbridge is planning to construct 771-megawatt solar facility south of the state capital Cheyenne. The proposed 5,200 acre site would be the Cowboy State's largest solar facility, generating enough electricity to power roughly 73,000 homes, the company said. The farm would be Wyoming's largest solar installation and cost $1.2 billion, according to Cowboy State Daily.
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The project is scheduled to be built in two stages—Cowboy I and Cowboy II—with each including a 133 MW battery-storage facility too. The satellite image below shows the sites outlined in blue and yellow in the bottom right.
Alberta-based Enbridge has said the Cowboy solar farm would help provide emissions-free, reliable electricity to meet Wyoming's growing demand for electricity.
The company said it had completed public consultation and was in the process of obtaining approval to begin construction. An Industrial Siting Permit application revealed that Enbridge has proposed construction commence in March 2025.
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The projected in-service date for the first phase is 2026, with the second phase set to be operational by 2027.
Enbridge did not immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
The Cowboy State is already home to one major solar installation, Sweetwater Solar, that came online in 2018 and produces enough electricity to power 15,712 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Another project, South Cheyenne Solar, is under construction and due to go online this year.
Wyoming is the country's largest producer of coal, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Harriet Hageman, the state's sole House representative, has spoken out against the large amounts of land that solar projects require and said in a May 15 letter to the Bureau of Land Management that solar panels "limit grazing, minimize recreation, and prevent fracking and other energy generation sources."
Across the wider United States, solar energy is an increasingly utilized source of electricity.
According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the U.S. installed a record 15.8 GW of photovoltaics across the country in just the first nine months of 2023.
The percentage of grid capacity additions coming from solar projects is also forecast to grow from less than half (46 percent) in 2022 to 71 percent by 2025.
Solar industry data revealed that in 2023, almost $51 billion of private investment in the U.S. economy came from solar energy.
The Biden administration has implemented a comprehensive suite of policies to advance solar energy and broader clean energy goals.
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Key initiatives include the "Solar for All" program, a $7 billion grant competition aimed at expanding access to affordable solar energy for low-income households. This initiative is expected to provide significant savings on electricity bills and create clean energy jobs.
Additionally, the White House is leveraging the Defense Production Act to boost domestic solar manufacturing, enhancing supply chains for critical clean energy technologies such as solar panels.
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Joe Edwards is a Live News Reporter based in Newsweek's London Bureau. He covers U.S. and global news and has ... Read more
