This Under-the-Radar Utility Just Signed a Massive Data Center Deal Without Anyone Noticing

Black Hills, a small-cap South Dakota utility company, signed a major 22-year power purchase agreement with Google to supply 590 megawatts of electricity to a data center in Cheyenne. The deal will require $1.8 billion in capital investment but is expected to generate $150 million in net income by 2030 and $2.4 billion in free cash flow over its lifetime. The agreement highlights how smaller utility companies are capitalizing on the surging electricity demand from AI data centers.