By KYLE ROERINK
Human waste, with a little help from Microsoft, will power a new data facility in Cheyenne by March.
The Wyoming Business Council and the State Loan and Investment Board approved a $1.5 million Community Readiness grant to build a data center and power plant that runs off of biogas methane — in other words, human waste. Construction on the data plant at the Dry Creek Water Reclamation Facility is scheduled to begin in January.
The plant will be located in a currently open field next to the city of Cheyenne’s water reclamation facility, said Anja Bendel, director of Cheyenne LEADS, a nonprofit economic development corporation for the Cheyenne area.
The plant will consist of a fuel cell that houses the methane biogas and a trailer filled with Microsoft servers, Bendel said. The energy produced by the fuel cell will power the servers.
The State Loan and Investment Board approved the grant Friday. The business council supported it in November.