300,000 barrels a day of fresh water, produced with the gas
Coalbed methane releases gas by lifting water. Cooling at the Energy Park redirects a volume the field already produces and already handles.
Already produced, gathered and handled
The field lifts about 300,000 barrels a day, roughly 12.6 million gallons, or 110 million barrels a year, as a routine part of producing gas. The water is fresh and of potable quality. It moves today through about 3,110 miles of in-service gathering into 635 reservoirs and pits, 570 permitted outfalls and 57 pump stations, with treatment facilities across the position.
Water volume grows with gas production, so cooling supply scales in step with fuel supply.
A 100 MW liquid-cooled reference load draws on the order of 1.0 MGD, so a 400 MW campus is about 4 MGD against 12.6 MGD produced. Water is not the constraint on the current plan. At the top end the arithmetic tightens: a campus above roughly 1.2 GW would need most of the co-produced volume, and the split between cooling and the field’s existing discharge obligations becomes a commercial term.
No municipal draw. Water is the second question regulators ask after power. Cooling here comes from water the field already lifts and already handles. It does not compete with a drinking supply, with irrigation, or with a river call.
| Daily production | 300,000 bbl/d |
| Equivalent | 12.6 MGD |
| Annual | ~110 MM bbl (4.6 B gal) |
| Quality | Fresh, potable |
| Trend | Grows with gas production |
| 100 MW reference draw | ~1.0 MGD |
| Gathering network in service | 3,110 mi |
| Reservoirs and pits | 635 |
| Permitted outfalls | 570 |
| Pump stations | 57 |
| Regional water stress | None |
The ambient conditions cut the cooling load
At about 4,500 feet in a semi-arid high-plains climate, conditions support air-side economization for most of the year. On NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals for Gillette, dry-bulb temperature sits below a 75°F economizer limit for on the order of 6,500 to 7,500 hours a year. The exact figure moves with the set point and should be recomputed against hourly data for the selected design.
That lands directly in power usage effectiveness. A campus here spends less of its power budget on cooling than the same campus in a hot, humid market, so more of the installed capacity reaches the racks.
| Mean annual temperature | 45 to 46°F |
| Annual range | 14°F to 87°F |
| Hours below 75°F dry bulb | ~6,500 to 7,500 / yr |
| Air-side economization | Viable 9+ months |
| Relative humidity | Low, semi-arid |
| Elevation | ~4,500 ft |
Air, liquid or hybrid
Air-cooled
Near-zero water intensity, with economization available most of the year. The lowest-friction permitting path and the easiest position to hold in a public discussion about water.
Liquid-cooled
Supportable to about 1.2 GW of load at full redirection of co-produced volume. This is where the water position starts to differentiate, and it is the direction most AI workloads are moving.
Hybrid
Liquid to the rack for high-density halls, air-side for the remainder, with the seasonal split set against the economizer calendar.
An existing framework
Withdrawal
Co-produced water is a by-product of permitted gas production already under management. That is a materially shorter and lower-risk path than a new appropriation from a surface or groundwater source.
Discharge
The field operates 570 permitted outfalls under the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality framework. Cooling loop discharge and blowdown are handled inside a system that already discharges at volume.
Treatment
Treatment facilities operate across the position. Water chemistry against a specific cooling technology, blowdown handling and discharge modeling are worked with the counterparty’s design engineer.
Diligence items. Water chemistry against a specific cooling technology, the permit amendments to move volume from current handling into a campus loop, and discharge modeling for the selected design are confirmed in diligence. For site selection, the point is that the volume exists, is produced today, and sits inside an existing permit framework.
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.