Own the bottleneck
The binding constraint in AI infrastructure moved from generation to interconnection, and from interconnection to community consent. Pronghorn holds the fuel, the water, the land and the generation inside one property, in a county that has permitted industrial energy for forty years.
What makes a land and power position durable
Capacity gets announced constantly. What separates positions is whether the inputs behind the announcement are owned or still to be secured. Six tests decide it.
A date attached to the number
A megawatt figure means little without a date. First power at the Energy Park does not wait on an interconnection award, so the schedule is a construction schedule.
Fuel that is produced
Fuel is the largest recurring cost in gas-fired generation. A purchased molecule carries basis, transport and term risk. A produced molecule carries none of them.
Land held outright
An option is a right to acquire. Acreage held outright inside a producing field is developable on the owner’s schedule.
Water that already exists
Cooling water is increasingly the item that stalls a project. Water produced with the gas is nobody’s allocation to compete for.
Nothing asked of the community
A project requesting rate treatment, transmission upgrades or an abatement has to defend the request in public. A project asking for none of it has nothing to defend.
Outside the subscribed grids
Most announced capacity has been aimed at a handful of grids, and the congestion in those markets is now regulatory as much as physical.
How these positions are usually assembled, and how this one is
The comparison below describes the standard structure of a land, power and shell position. It is not directed at any particular developer.
| Typical structure | Pronghorn | |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | Purchased at a hub under contract, moved on third-party pipe, treated for a fee | Produced on the position. 100 MMcf/d today, 2 Tcf in reserve, 98% held by production |
| Fuel price over term | Market price plus basis and transport, managed with hedges | An internal cost of production, so a long-tenor fixed or indexed power price is underwritable |
| Land | Optioned, with acreage contingent on closing | 1,200-plus acres owned outright, with additional contiguous acreage under negotiation |
| Power at first energization | An interconnection award, or supply contracted from a utility | Behind the meter on its own gas. 100 MW by the end of 2026, 400 MW by the end of 2027 |
| Power thereafter | A single route, whichever route was chosen | Grid access indicated inside 24 months as a second outlet, on top of behind-the-meter supply |
| Water | A municipal supply or a basin allocation still to be secured | 300,000 bbl/d of fresh potable water produced with the gas, growing with production |
| Site infrastructure | Greenfield. Roads, water handling and power distribution to be built | Roads, gathering, water handling, electric distribution and a staffed operating yard in daily use |
| Jurisdiction | Concentrated in the most heavily subscribed grids | Wyoming. No queue dependency for first power, statutory tax treatment |
| Community ask | Abatements, rate treatment, or a ratepayer-funded transmission upgrade | None of the three |
| Operating record | A development entity assembling a position | 5,241 wells operated, 3,363 producing. About $3.2 B invested on the position, predominantly by predecessor operators |
Price control comes from owning the molecule
A merchant generator buys gas at a hub, pays to move it, pays to treat it, and carries the basis between the hub and the burner tip. Every one of those is a counterparty, a contract and a price exposure, and every one gets renewed on someone else’s terms.
Production diverted to the Energy Park never enters that chain. It is taken upstream of the gathering system, on the leasehold, and burned on the property it came out of. No hub, no firm transport to reserve years ahead, no minimum volume commitment to a midstream provider.
The avoided cost. Each Mcf burned on site avoids about $0.55 of gathering and compression and $0.20 to $0.36 of treating. That cost is never incurred, because the molecule never enters the chain.
Coalbed methane also behaves differently from shale here. The wells are shallow, unstimulated and long-lived, with a shallow decline instead of a steep first-year drop. A generation fleet underwritten against this production is underwritten against a flatter curve.
The resource sets the tenor
Pronghorn is not buying the fuel, so it is not hedging a purchase. The power price carries no commodity view, and the term of a power agreement is not capped by the term of a gas contract.
The reserve position sets the horizon instead. One gigawatt of continuous generation consumes about 228 MMcf/d, or about 2.08 Tcf across twenty-five years. Pronghorn holds 2 Tcf. The twenty-five-year statement is arithmetic against a reserve position.
| Fuel ownership | Pronghorn, 100% |
| Third-party fuel contract | Not required |
| Firm transport reservation | Not required |
| Basis exposure | None, no purchase |
| Decline profile | Shallow, CBM |
| Reserve life against 1 GW | 25 years |
Pricing structure, tenor, escalation and the treatment of fuel within the power price are commercial terms addressed in a term sheet and are not published here.
Behind the meter first. The grid as a second outlet.
Behind-the-meter generation makes the schedule independent. Grid access keeps the generation useful beyond the load in front of it.
First power does not wait on an interconnection award, so the campus can energize while a grid-dependent project is still in a queue. That is the primary structure and it stands on its own.
Powder River Energy Corporation and Bison indicate grid access inside twenty-four months, conservatively, with several 40 MW sites available now on the lower-kV system. Access is subject to written confirmation from both.
Once connected, generation is no longer bounded by the load in front of it. Capacity built ahead of a ramp, or beyond what a tenant draws, has a route to market instead of sitting idle. A single-customer asset becomes a generating position with two outlets.
- Barber Creek. 230 kV, 1.5 miles from the Energy Park
- Carr Draw. 230 kV, 9.8 miles
- Pumpkin Buttes. 230 kV, 28.5 miles, about 300 MW known available
| First power | Behind the meter |
| Interconnection required for first power | No |
| Grid access indicated | Within 24 months |
| Available now, lower-kV system | Several 40 MW sites |
| 230 kV substations in reach | Three |
| Nearest 230 kV | 1.5 miles |
Sequence and status. Grid timing reflects guidance from Powder River Energy Corporation and Bison and is subject to written confirmation from both. Delivery of energy into the grid requires interconnection agreements and the applicable regulatory approvals, and the structure for any such sales is a matter for counsel. Nothing here should be read as an offer of energy for sale.
Five questions Texas now asks of a data center
In August 2026 Texas paused new data center projects pending a statewide grid audit, and set out what a project has to disclose. The list is a fair test of any campus in any state. The Energy Park answers all five.
| Pay their own way | Fuel and generation are privately funded. No abatement request, no rate treatment, no ratepayer-funded transmission upgrade. Tax treatment comes from statute. |
| Provide their own power | 100 MW behind the meter by the end of 2026 and 400 MW by the end of 2027, fueled from Pronghorn’s own production. First power requires no interconnection award. |
| Reuse their own water | Cooling water comes up with the gas, 300,000 bbl/d, fresh and potable, and the field’s existing water infrastructure already handles it. No municipal draw and no basin allocation. Cooling and recirculation design is set with the offtaker. |
| Reduce the cost of electricity | The campus draws no load from the grid, so it adds no demand pressure to it. On grid connection, generation beyond the load can be delivered into the system. A project that adds supply and takes no load does not push rates upward. |
| Avoid disturbing neighborhoods | Unincorporated Campbell County, no zoning overlay and no residential setback question at the site, on a field in industrial use for decades. About 1,300 MW of thermal generation already operates within twenty-five miles. |
The pause reaches the interconnection queue. This campus does not enter it. What is being audited is the queue for grid capacity. A campus generating behind the meter on its own fuel sits outside that process.
Sources. Interconnection queue volume and median duration: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Queued Up: 2026 Edition. ERCOT large-load requests and peak demand: ERCOT and PUCT filings and the US Energy Information Administration. Texas pause: Office of the Governor of Texas, 5 August 2026.
A project that asks the community for nothing
Opposition to data center development has become consistent in its content. It concerns electricity bills, property taxes, water and air. A behind-the-meter campus on a producing gas field answers all four structurally, without giving an undertaking.
| Protection of existing ratepayers from cost shifts | The load does not touch the grid at first energization. No allocated network cost, no ratepayer-funded transmission upgrade, no rate case. A cost shift is not available to this structure. |
| Water minimization | Cooling water comes up with the gas from Pronghorn’s own wells. No municipal draw and no competition for a basin allocation. Fresh and potable at 300,000 bbl/d, growing with production. |
| Community investment | County property and sales tax base, local trades and contractors, and a workforce already resident in the county. Tax treatment is statutory, so nothing is being sought from a county board. |
| Public participation | Unincorporated Campbell County with no zoning overlay at the site. Air and water permitting run through Wyoming DEQ under the normal public process. |
No residential setbacks
The Energy Park sits in unincorporated county territory on a field that has been in industrial use for decades. There is no residential setback question at the site.
~1,300 MW nearby
Of thermal generation operates within about twenty-five miles. Large thermal plants are established infrastructure in Campbell County.
40 years of permitting
Of continuous industrial energy permitting in the county. The permitting path, the contractor base and the skilled trades are established.
The position
Basis of presentation. Volumes, well counts and mileages are operator-reported. Installed capacity, schedule and the resource statement reflect Pronghorn’s current development plan and are subject to field development, equipment delivery, permitting and the timing of a signed offtake. Grid capacity and interconnection timing are as indicated by Powder River Energy Corporation and Bison and are subject to written confirmation. Additional acreage referenced as under negotiation is not under contract. Comparisons describe common structures in the sector and are not directed at any named party. Nothing on this site constitutes an offer, a commitment, or a reserve report.
A load profile is enough to begin.
Send target megawatts at first energization, a ramp schedule and a cooling approach. Pronghorn returns a generation block plan, a field development sequence, a water allocation and a term sheet across power, land and fuel. Capital and structure inquiries reach the same team.