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Lesson 5 of 8 · about 17 minutes

Data Centers in Idaho: Built, Proposed and Stalled

You'll be able to

  • List Idaho's operating and proposed data centers with location, size and status as of October 2026
  • Explain why Micron's Boise expansion is a large load but not a data center
  • Describe Idaho Power's 2025 IRP growth forecast and the open large-load cost case IPC-E-26-07
  • Convert a data center's megawatts into annual energy and compare it with forecast growth

Idaho's data center story has two halves. In the Treasure Valley, data centers are real buildings on real electric bills. Everywhere else, including the Magic Valley, they are mostly paper: filings, right-of-way requests, gas contracts and rumors. The two halves are connected through one utility, Idaho Power, and one commission, the PUC. What gets decided in Boise about who pays for big loads will set the terms for any project that shows up farther east.

The national picture, the water math and the tax incentive fights are in the data center impacts course. The county approval steps are in the data center planning course. This lesson is the Idaho roster.

The roster, as of October 2026

ProjectWhereSizeStatus
Meta (affiliate Brisbie LLC)Kuna, Ada CountyCleanview lists two buildings at 99 MW each operating in 2026 and two more at 40 MW each planned for 2027Operating. Special contract approved May 11, 2023 (Order 35777); 200 MW Pleasant Valley Solar contract (IPC-E-22-29)
Gemstone Technology Park (Diode Ventures)KunaThe Idaho Conservation League puts it at 600 to 800 MW; Cleanview reports no MW figureApproved by Kuna; buildout expected over about 10 years, per ICL
Lex DevelopmentsFormer Hoku plant, Pocatello49 acres, seven 100,000 sq ft buildings, over 100 MW by 2031, $2.6 billionHearing examiner denied the permit in May 2026; city council upheld the denial 4-1 on July 16, 2026; the developer filed for reconsideration July 29, a required step before a district court appeal. Outcome after that not confirmed for this course
Rhea Data (Arevia Power subsidiary)BLM land, southern Ada County, rights-of-way into Elmore CountyAbout 3,750 acres; 4 million sq ft; on-site gas plant; MW withheldBLM pre-planning; notice of intent planned before end of 2026
Snake River Energy Data Center (Copia)BLM land in Gooding, Lincoln and a neighboring Magic Valley countyNot statedBeginning environmental review, per the Oregon Capital Chronicle
TerraVoltSoutheast Idaho; placed in Cassia County by a third-party tracker200 to 240 MW first phaseNo land secured as of June 30, 2026 (lesson 6)

Two of these are on federal land. The Oregon Capital Chronicle, citing The Washington Sun's review of BLM records, counted at least 12 data center proposals on more than 17,500 acres of BLM land across six Western states in September 2026. Idaho had two of them.

The Sun's own September 18, 2026 story is worth reading next to the secondhand versions, because its numbers differ a little. It puts the Western total at 17,600 acres and Rhea Data at 3,226 acres a few miles south of Boise, a multi-building, 4 million square foot campus with a natural gas generation plant and connections to Idaho Power, while another Arevia subsidiary seeks a right-of-way for a related utility-scale solar project. The 3,750-acre figure in the table comes from East Idaho News, which quotes the BLM field manager breaking it into a campus of about 3,200 acres plus another 550 acres of transmission and electrical wiring. That breakdown accounts for most of the gap; the right-of-way file should confirm the exact numbers. Sierra Club Idaho's Lisa Young told the Sun her concerns were more gas plants, coal plants kept running longer, and water.

Micron is not a data center

Micron's Boise expansion gets lumped in with data centers because it is huge and because it uses the same state tax tools. It is a memory chip factory. Its special contract with Idaho Power, case IPC-E-24-44, filed December 6, 2024, was approved with modifications in Order No. 37039 on May 8, 2026. It matters here as a template for how the PUC handles very large customers, and because Micron is an intervenor in the large-load case below.

The utility side

The forecast. Idaho Power's 2025 Integrated Resource Plan, case IPC-E-25-23, was acknowledged by the PUC on February 17, 2026 in Order No. 36937. It forecast peak demand rising about 1,700 MW over 20 years, about 1,000 MW of it in the first five, and cited a major data center and a semiconductor expansion in the Boise area as drivers. Its preferred portfolio added solar, batteries, wind, coal-to-gas conversions and 550 MW of new gas.

The cost case. IPC-E-26-07, filed March 31, 2026, asks the PUC to decide how costs should be assigned to new large-load customers. Intervenors include the Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association, Micron, the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power, the City of Boise, Bayer, the Federal Executive Agencies, the Northwest Energy Coalition and Clean Energy Opportunities for Idaho. Order No. 37170 set staff and intervenor testimony for November 25, a public comment deadline of December 14, 2026, and a technical hearing starting January 19, 2027. The ratepayer protections lesson walks through it in detail.

The legislation. Two 2026 bills became law. House Bill 911, signed April 10, 2026 and effective July 1, added Idaho Code 61-335, "New Large Load and Ratepayer Protection." A load that adds 50 MW or more at a service entrance within 60 months, under a utility contract signed on or after July 1, 2026, can be served only under a PUC-approved contract. The commission has 270 days to rule and may approve only if the utility shows other customers' reliability holds and the large load pays its full cost of service, including generation, transmission and distribution it causes; the customer must also post financial security. House Bill 895, signed April 2, 2026, added Idaho Code 42-252 on data center cooling water. Other bills failed, including House Bill 609 in 2026 and House Bill 315 in 2025, and the sales tax exemption for data centers stayed on the books. Idaho farmers have pointed to rising irrigation demand charges as the bill for growth; Adam Young, a Bingham County farmer, made that case in a February 2026 Idaho Capital Sun column. Idaho Power ties recent increases to growth across its system, including large new customers.

Example: what 600 to 800 MW means

Take Gemstone at the ICL's range and assume the high load factor typical of data centers, 90 percent.

  • Energy at 600 MW: 600 x 0.90 x 8,760 hours = 4,730,400 MWh a year.
  • Energy at 800 MW: 800 x 0.90 x 8,760 = 6,307,200 MWh a year.
  • Against the IRP's five-year peak growth of about 1,000 MW: 600 / 1,000 = 60 percent; 800 / 1,000 = 80 percent.

That last line is a comparison, not a claim that Gemstone is or isn't in the forecast. Whether a given project is counted, and at what ramp, is exactly the question to put to Idaho Power. Its answer on Rhea Data, that the project was not in the forecast, shows the gap can be real.

The case each side makes

Supporters, including the companies, local economic development offices and many officials, point to capital investment and property tax base, construction jobs, and contracts like Meta's, where the customer paid for its own solar supply. Idaho Power's Brisbie contract was approved with protections the commission added, such as an 85 percent adjustment on excess energy credits.

Opponents, including the Idaho Conservation League, Sierra Club Idaho, irrigators and writers like Jeff Pierson in Feeding the Beast, point to the size of the loads against the whole system, few permanent jobs per dollar invested, state tax exemptions, water, and the risk that shared grid costs land on existing customers before large-load rules are settled. Pierson argues developers seek out places with cheap power and light oversight; the BLM proposals, where acreage and power data are thin, give that argument something to work with.

Where the evidence points: the 2026 law sets the standard for new contracts, full cost of service, but how Idaho Power's cost studies apply it is open until IPC-E-26-07 is decided. Claims that data centers already raised Idaho bills by a set amount go further than the record supports, and claims that they cost existing customers nothing go further the other way.

Common mix-ups

  • Claim: Micron is building a data center. What the evidence shows: Micron is building a chip factory. It is a large load with its own special contract.
  • Claim: The PUC already set data center rates. What the evidence shows: The large-load cost case is open, with a hearing set for January 2027.
  • Claim: A BLM data center application means it's approved. What the evidence shows: Rhea Data was in pre-planning in September 2026, with environmental review not yet begun.

Reporting angle

  • Publish the IPC-E-26-07 public comment deadline, December 14, 2026, and the January 19, 2027 hearing date.
  • Ask Idaho Power which named large loads are in its current load forecast, at what MW and in what year.
  • Request each city's or county's data center application file under Idaho Code 74-102, including any utility "will serve" letters.
  • File FOIA requests (5 U.S.C. 552) with the BLM for the Rhea Data and Snake River Energy Data Center right-of-way applications and plans of development, plus the Arevia solar right-of-way the Sun reported. Ask BLM which acreage, 3,226 or about 3,750, is in the application and what accounts for the difference.
  • Check each project's MW, acreage and job figures against its own filings, not the press release.

Research angle

Check yourself

1. Which Idaho PUC case decides how costs are assigned to new large-load customers such as data centers, with a technical hearing set for January 19, 2027?

2. Why is Micron's Boise expansion not counted as a data center?

3. A 100 MW data center runs at a 90 percent load factor all year. About how much energy does it use annually?

4. What did Idaho Power tell reporters about the Rhea Data proposal on BLM land in southern Ada County in September 2026?

5. What happened to the proposed Lex Developments data center at the former Hoku plant in Pocatello?

Terms in this lesson

Large load
A single customer whose demand is big enough, often 20 MW or more, to change a utility's planning; data centers and chip plants are examples.
Load factor
Average use divided by peak use over a period; data centers often run near 90 percent, factories and homes lower.
Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)
A utility's long-range forecast of demand and its preferred mix of resources to meet it, filed with the PUC for acknowledgment.
Special contract
A PUC-approved agreement setting rates and terms for one large customer outside the standard tariffs.
Hyperscaler
One of the largest cloud and technology companies that build and run very large data centers.

Full glossary

Sources