Wyoming, the nation’s leading coal-producing state, has begun the initial permitting for the construction of its largest utility-scale solar farm, by far.
The state’s Industrial Siting Council approved a permit for developer Enbridge in early May to build and operate the Cowboy Solar project, which will be built on private land in Laramie County, in the state’s southeast corner, beginning in March 2025. The project will employ an average monthly workforce of 285 temporary employees, with a peak of approximately 375 employees.
Once completed in 2027, the $1.2 billion, 771-megawatt installation will not only be the biggest solar farm in the Cowboy State but also one of the largest solar projects in the U.S.
The project will also include 269 megawatts of battery storage to soak up surplus daytime sunshine and make it available for use later in the day. Solar facilities are increasingly, if not entirely, being colocated with large arrays of batteries for this purpose.
Enbridge is a Canadian energy firm with a massive distribution pipeline for oil and fossil gas, but it has been expanding into alternative energy at a billion-dollar scale since 2002.