Developer pulls out of hyperscale data center, natural gas plant proposed on BLM land in Henderson

A Texas-based company is no longer moving forward with a proposed hyperscale data center and natural gas plant on federal land near the southeastern tip of Henderson, mere miles from a master-planned community at the base of the McCollough Mountains.

The 1,000-megawatt data center, detailed in an application obtained by the Sierra Club and shared with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, could have become one of the state’s most energy-intensive data centers on a stretch of desert near the Paradise Hills community in Henderson.

That much energy is enough to power between 700,000 and 1 million homes, according to NV Energy.

In a statement Thursday morning, the developer said it consulted with the city of Henderson and the Bureau of Land Management and decided to withdraw its application “due to the city planned urban development efforts in same area.”

Skylar Capital Opportunities is also behind the contested Boulder City data center project on federal land that has been put on hold by an administrative judge while an appeal from city officials and environmental groups is processed. That data center may become the first to be built on BLM land nationwide.

This week, the BLM, which had attempted to use Townsite Solar 2’s environmental review of a solar project for its data center, has asked a judge this week if it can conduct additional review.

According to the application from November, the developer said it would have taken between $1.5 billion and $2 billion to construct — a sum of money it planned to raise with “investment capital, tax equity and debt capital.” It cited the project’s proximity to the existing development as a plus, saying “additional environmental impacts are expected to be minimal.”

Natural gas plants are considered to produce a fossil fuel that a consensus of scientists say is warming the planet. While it releases less carbon dioxide than coal or oil, it is not considered a renewable energy source. This month, energy regulators approved two temporary gas plants in Northern Nevada to power Fleet data centers.

Utilities in the state are mandated by law to source half of their energy from renewables by 2030 — a goal that NV Energy has acknowledged data center demands will force it to miss.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.