Williams County

Updates, newest first

1. Oct. 2026 Teton Digital Project Trinity · The company's project page lists a 100 MW North Dakota campus with a conditional use permit for its 70 MW Phase II and Phase I (30 MW) in final permitting. (Teton Digital, LLC, Oct. 26, 2026)
2. Aug. 27, 2026 Atlas Power Data Center · KFYR's statewide tally listed Atlas Power's facility in the Williston area as operational at 700 MW. (KFYR-TV / Valley News Live, Aug. 27, 2026)
3. March 2026 Project Fighting Pike · Williston Economic Development called the campus the city's largest single investment, at a minimum of $10 billion, said the master plan was approved March 17, 2025, and put it at 455 MW on 300 acres. (Williston Economic Development (City of Williston), March 2026)
4. June 17, 2025 Atlas Power Data Center · Attorneys reported a settlement before the jury trial set for July 2025. KFYR did not report the terms. (KFYR-TV (KUMV), June 17, 2025)
5. April 6, 2025 Teton Digital Project Trinity · New Project Media reported Teton Digital planned to raise about $200 million, including servers, would fund grid upgrades including a substation, and was negotiating power rates with Upper Missouri Power Cooperative and Basin Electric; the report said county commissioners had given the project the go-ahead. (New Project Media, April 6, 2025)
6. March 25, 2025 Project Fighting Pike · Williston city commissioners approved the plans with noise conditions: a third-party consultant, mitigation in place before operation and kept up for a year after; phase one was targeted for the end of 2026 and the full project for 2031. (KFYR-TV, March 26, 2025)
7. Feb. 20, 2025 Teton Digital Project Trinity · Data Center Dynamics reported a 30 MW first phase on 25 acres of an 80-acre parcel using an adjacent substation, followed by a new 100 MW-plus substation and colocation capacity by the end of 2026. (Data Center Dynamics, Feb. 20, 2025)
8. Feb. 18, 2025 Teton Digital Project Trinity · Williams County commissioners allowed Teton Digital to apply for a conditional use permit for the liquid-cooled 100 MW project beside the Enerfore site, telling the company to work with the township and neighbors. (KFYR-TV (KUMV), Feb. 18, 2025)
9. Feb. 4, 2025 Enerfore Digital Dry Fork data center · The county commission approved the conditional use permit 4-1 after the township and planning commission recommended it; the company said its cooling would be quieter than the Atlas Power site. (KFYR-TV, Feb. 4, 2025)
10. 2025 Project Fighting Pike · Data Center Dynamics, citing city documents, described seven 65 MW buildings of 275,000 to 500,000 sq ft each with closed-loop direct-to-chip cooling on land once planned for a housing development. (Data Center Dynamics, 2025)
11. Oct. 16, 2024 Atlas Power Data Center · KFYR reported that a district judge dismissed the trespass claim and the claims against the county. Two public nuisance claims and the request for injunctive relief against Atlas went forward. The company had built sound walls at the site. (KFYR-TV (KUMV), Oct. 16, 2024)
12. Oct. 1, 2024 Enerfore Digital Dry Fork data center · On appeal, commissioners voted 4-0 to let Enerfore pursue a conditional use permit, with a sound study and public comment required, despite letters urging denial. (KFYR-TV, Oct. 1, 2024; SDxCentral, Oct. 4, 2024)
13. July 2024 Enerfore Digital Dry Fork data center · Enerfore's first application for the Dry Fork site was denied because it was less than a mile from three homes. (KFYR-TV, Oct. 1, 2024)
14. Jan. 2, 2024 Atlas Power Data Center · Williams County adopted a data center ordinance. It requires a conditional use permit in the heavy industrial district, a one-mile setback from homes, schools, churches and parks, and a noise study by an acoustical engineer. KFYR later reported that the tighter rules followed problems at the Atlas Power site. (Williams County Board of County Commissioners (filed as legislative testimony on HB 1239), Jan. 2, 2024; KFYR-TV, Oct. 1, 2024)
15. Oct. 12, 2023 Atlas Power Data Center · A group of 22 Judson Township residents sued Atlas Power and Williams County in Northwest District Court over noise from the site, seeking damages, noise reduction and changes to the county's zoning decisions. Atlas and the county asked the court to dismiss the case. (KFYR-TV, Nov. 29, 2023)
16. June 29, 2023 Atlas Power Data Center · The county said Atlas had corrected the building code violations, passed state and county inspections, and paid $232,000 in fines levied for earlier building code violations. The commission voted unanimously to grant a 60-day temporary certificate of occupancy, and power to Phase 2 stayed on. The county said it would consider a permanent certificate after a required emergency access road was finished. FX Solutions said sound walls and security fencing were on the way. (Williams County, N.D., June 29, 2023; KFYR-TV (KUMV), June 29, 2023)
17. June 21, 2023 Atlas Power Data Center · The cooperative did not cut the power. It asked the Northwest District Court for a declaratory judgment on whether the county could require a utility to disconnect. It said it took no position on the county's authority or on Atlas's compliance, and that Phase 2 connects through Phase 1, so cutting one would shut down both. KFGO said Atlas Power and FX Solutions had not responded to requests for comment. (Williams County, N.D., June 29, 2023; KFGO (The Mighty 790), June 21, 2023; KFYR-TV (KUMV), June 26, 2023)
18. June 20, 2023 Atlas Power Data Center · The commission found that the May 2 order had not been fully met. Citing the county building code, it voted unanimously to direct Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative to disconnect power to the Phase 2 buildings. (Williams County, N.D., June 29, 2023; KFYR-TV (KUMV), June 21, 2023; KFGO (The Mighty 790), June 21, 2023)
19. May 2, 2023 Atlas Power Data Center · Williams County had received noise complaints, and its development services director had issued a stop-work order on the second phase on April 25. The county commission found building code and zoning problems: eight Phase 2 buildings were running without the required certificate of occupancy, and state electrical board clearance was missing. Commissioners voted unanimously to give Atlas Power and FX Solutions 45 days to fix them. KFYR reported a $4,000 daily fine until the issues were resolved. (Williams County, N.D., June 29, 2023; KFYR-TV (KUMV), May 17, 2023)
20. Jan. 26, 2022 Atlas Power Data Center · The governor's office announced a $1.9 billion, multiyear data center on 77 acres west of Williston: 240 MW in the first phase, growing to 500 MW and then 700 MW. Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative would supply power and FX Solutions would build it. (Office of the Governor of North Dakota, Jan. 26, 2022)

Statewide

North Dakota exempts enterprise IT equipment and software bought for a Tax Commissioner-certified qualified data center from sales and use tax: servers, cooling, power infrastructure, business-owned substations, backup generation and batteries, racking and cabling all count. The center must be built or substantially refurbished after Dec. 31, 2020, have at least 15,000 square feet with half or more used for data processing, sit on one parcel or contiguous parcels, and have fire suppression and enhanced security. Owners report each year the exemption claimed, jobs and local incentives (N.D.C.C. 57-39.2-04.17, from SB 2137 of 2021). It replaced a 2015 exemption (HB 1089) that was limited to the first four certified centers and expired at the end of 2020. The North Dakota Monitor reported claims of $15.3 million in 2024 and more than $65 million in 2025, and the Legislature's interim Tax Reform and Relief Advisory Committee is reviewing the incentive in 2025-26. No data-center-specific property tax break or PILOT statute was found. (North Dakota Legislative Assembly, 2021; North Dakota Legislative Assembly, 2015; North Dakota Legislative Council, Sept. 2025; North Dakota Monitor, Aug. 26, 2026) Montana-Dakota Utilities serves data centers under Rate 45, a high-density contracted demand-response rate for new data center loads of at least 10 MW and an 85% load factor. Each customer signs an electric service agreement that the PSC must approve, covering term, pricing, deposits, interruption and demand response, and line extensions are paid by the customer through contributions in aid of construction. Applied Digital's Ellendale agreements were reviewed in PSC Cases PU-22-371 and PU-23-320, -321 and -322. Basin Electric told lawmakers in 2025 that its Large Load Program makes developers prepay for new infrastructure, though no project had yet been completed under it. (Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (filed with N.D. Public Service Commission), Feb. 21, 2024; Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (filed with N.D. Public Service Commission), Nov. 9, 2023; Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (presentation to N.D. Energy Development and Transmission Committee), Aug. 27, 2025; North Dakota Legislative Council, Aug. 27, 2025) Otter Tail Power asked the PSC on June 18, 2026 to create a High Power Compute rate for data centers with at least 75 MW of firm load (Case PU-26-215). Each such customer would need a dedicated plan for new generation to cover its energy and capacity, a contract of at least 15 years with collateral, and exit fees and liquidated damages; part of the data center margins would be shared with other customers through a system benefit credit. Otter Tail asked for a Jan. 1, 2027 effective date and filed a similar plan in Minnesota in May 2026. (Otter Tail Power Company (filed with N.D. Public Service Commission), June 18, 2026) HB 1539 (2025), signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong on March 19, 2025, removes on-site backup generation over 50 MW that is not connected to the grid from the PSC's siting process under the Energy Conversion and Transmission Facility Siting Act (N.D.C.C. 49-22-03). Before, such a backup plant could need a state siting permit. These generators are now sited locally and must still meet any applicable state air permit rules. Applied Digital backed the bill. (Office of the Governor of North Dakota, March 19, 2025; North Dakota Legislative Assembly, 2025) North Dakota has no state siting law for data centers, and a PSC commissioner wrote in 2026 that the agency has no direct authority over them. HB 1579 (2025) began as a bill to put large power users, including data centers over 50 MW, through a PSC siting process. Utilities and Applied Digital opposed it, and it was changed into a Legislative Management study of large energy consumers' effects on the grid, regulation and economic development, signed in April 2025; the interim Energy Development and Transmission Committee is carrying out that study. A separate 2025 bill, HB 1239, would have limited local governments' power to restrict digital-asset mining through zoning; the House Industry, Business and Labor Committee recommended it not pass. (InForum (Bismarck Tribune reporting), Jan. 2025; Plural Policy (Open States), April 30, 2025; North Dakota Legislative Council, Aug. 2025; Minot Daily News, May 7, 2026; North Dakota Legislative Assembly, Feb. 12, 2025) 2026: lawmakers turned down a statewide pause on local data center permits through June 30, 2027 (bill draft 25.1452.01000). Legislative Management did not advance it on Aug. 17, and the House refused to introduce it 68-25 on Sept. 2. In the same special session, the Senate rejected SB 2406, which would have banned nondisclosure agreements between government agencies and data center or industrial developers, 32-15 on Sept. 3. Legislative leaders set up a new interim Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Committee in June 2026. (North Dakota Legislative Council, 2026; North Dakota Monitor, Aug. 17, 2026; North Dakota Monitor, Sept. 2, 2026; North Dakota Legislative Assembly, Sept. 2, 2026; North Dakota Monitor, Sept. 3, 2026; Valley News Live (KVLY), June 25, 2026) North Dakota data centers →