• 50%, 20-year post-performance tax reduction on project-created USD 344m in state tax revenue
• Millard County officials issued a letter of support for the project April 7
• Commissioners clarified the letter was not related to energy zone designation or local tax incentives

The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity has awarded Creekstone Energy up to USD 172m in tax incentives for its USD 17bn, 10 GW data center project in Millard County.

The incentive is a 50%, 20-year post-performance tax reduction, part of the state’s Rural Economic Development Tax Increment Financing (REDTIF) program, based on the anticipated roughly USD 344m in new state tax revenue generated by the campus.

“This project highlights Utah’s innovative economy and our commitment to shared growth across the state,” Jefferson Moss, Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity executive director, said in an April 9 news release.

In addition to the tax base, the project is estimated to create 106 full-time jobs over the next 20 years.

Plans for the project include the construction of a large-scale AI data center campus on more than 10,000 acres, designed to operate off-grid, using natural gas and solar generation, power from the Intermountain Power Project via a 345kV private transmission line and onsite battery energy storage (BESS).

Creekstone currently owns 1,143 acres of the proposed campus across 10 parcels in Millard County, and the developer announced in March it has a long-term land and solar lease with the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration for approximately 13,000 acres.

Construction on the phase began late last year, and a gas interconnect is underway, with the interconnect agreement executed in September and an initial capacity of 43,000 Dth/day (approximately 230 MW). A concrete equipment pad has been placed on site, with grid-forming battery backup and flywheel inertia for grid stability.

The developer is planning more than 1 GW of solar development in the next 18 months to support the campus.

In February, Creekstone signed a memorandum of understanding with Zeo Energy to develop approximately 280 MW of baseload power for the campus, incorporating solar and long-duration storage systems.

The state incentive announcement followed an April 7 vote by the Millard County Commission to provide a letter of support for the project after state officials requested confirmation of local backing as part of the incentive review process.

“They want to make sure that they’re not incentivizing a project that does not have local support,” Adam Richins, county building official, said during the meeting.

Commissioners also clarified that the letter of support was not related to energy zone designation (which the project is not classified) or local tax incentives.

Energy zones in Utah can enable future local property tax incentives for large energy developments, subject to separate county approval.

The project received county approval last summer for a rezoning and conditional use permit.

Creekstone did not respond to requests for comment.