GFDA announces $1 billion proposed data center project
Updated June 20 with a quote from Malmstrom Air Force Base
A 2 million-square-foot “hyperscale data center campus” is proposed in Great Falls.
Ardent TAC Data Centers, an Atlanta-based company, is proposing an investment of $1 billion to $1.5 billion on a 569-acre site adjacent to the AgriTech Park.
Great Falls Development Alliance announced the project with Ardent during their June 17 annual meeting,
According to Ardent and GFDA, the project will create an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 construction jobs and 150-200 permanent positions.
GFDA said its been working with Ardent for the past five months to develop the project.
They’ve dubbed the proposal Project Cardinal and it’s different than the mystery manufacturing project GFDA talked about during a city commission work session last fall, which is dubbed Project Falcon.
TAC Data Centers is under contract to purchase 569-acres owned by the Roehm family, sitting on the eastern side of the city, across from the AgriTech industrial park and north of Malmstrom Air Force Base.
The property is not in the city limits, according to the city zoning map and Cadastral, the state property records system.
That means the project will have to go through the city’s annexation and zoning process to access city services and no engagement with city staff has occurred to date, according to the city planning office.
County Commissioner Joe Briggs told The Electric that the company hadn’t yet decided if they prefer to be annexed into the city or not. That will likely come down to whether they need city utility services, he said, but the county will assist the company in either case.
Ardent said in a project overview that its in NorthWestern Energy’s queue for a transmission study, “but progress has been slow and timelines are still unclear. Montana is a regulated electricity market which means NorthWestern controls the transmission infrastructure. This adds some complexity which we are working on navigating as we will need additional sources of power generation which will be required to interconnect through the NorthWestern transmission grid. We’ve had productive discussions with power including Berkshire Hathaway Montana, BHE Canada, and AlbertaEx as well as three or four other power generation sources but we cannot proceed further without
NorthWestern’s cooperation.”
Ardent is requesting 500-600 megawatts critical load from NorthWestern and other power generation sources with two planned onsite substations, one owned by Ardent, the other owned by the power company.
Ardent has a conceptual site plan with one-story buildings but the transmission study results will determine substation requirements and necessary infrastructure upgrades.
The project is subject to securing the needed power generation and transmission.
Ardent said in their overview that they expect zoning, permitting securing power to take 12-18 months, and initial construction would follow with the first phases online by late 2027 to early 2028, according to Ardent. The full campus buildout is projected by 2030.
“TAC will collaborate with Great Falls to ensure that the buildings blend with the local environment using a combination of regionally inspired architecture, earth tone colors and a detailed landscape plan will include plantings, berms, and natural screening to preserve the character of the area,” according to Ardent’s overview.
Brett Doney, GFDA’s president, told The Electric that there’s “growth in demand for data center services” and Great Falls is “uniquely well positioned” for such projects with energy providers ready and willing to provide power.
He said they’ll be using a recirculating technology for the cooling water for the servers, but will likely have to purchase water from the city or potentially use the water rights the city purchased from the former smelter.
Doney said it’s too early to tell if they’ll want to annex for city services or be able to develop in the county.
The work to date on the project has focused on securing energy supply and infrastructure and now they’re working through NWE’s process.
Doney said one of his first questions to Ardent was if the company was U.S. owned and using U.S. money, to which they said yes.
They are sensitive to developing next to a nuclear missile base and that security was a concern.
He said the development is compatible with the defense mission and some bases are working with local partners to develop microgrids to ensure continuous operations in the event of power outages.
In a statement from the public affairs office, Malmstrom Air Force Base told The Electric, “Malmstrom has a great partnership with the Great Falls Development Alliance and the community. We were made aware of the data center and look forward to continuing to see the community grow.”
With the number of jobs the project is estimating, Doney said there’s time to develop training programs with local schools for future employees.
If all goes well, Doney said they’re hopeful the Montana Renewables construction will be done before the Project Cardinal development and that will be completed before the Air Force’s Sentinel missile conversion gets going in earnest.
Timelines can shift easily with major projects, but Doney said if there’s a string of major projects, it could drive interest in development temporary and permanent housing.
He said there aren’t really any concerns that local infrastructure can’t handle the project and though it’s in a sensitive stormwater area, he said a project of this magnitude could help build infrastructure that would benefit other sites and the general area.
There’s a lot of work to be done, he said, on the energy side but he’s confident NorthWestern Energy will work with them to make it work.
“You can’t add a load like this overnight,” Doney said, it’s a major investment.
The expansion of data centers nationwide is being driven by AI and proliferation of the online economy, which are strong markets, he said, and the project would be a nice diversification for the Great Falls economy, potentially making the community more competitive in other markets.
“It’s exciting, but it’s very early on,” Doney told The Electric and whether the company opts to annex or not, the project will go through a lengthy public process.
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