Emery County

Updates, newest first

1. Oct. 7, 2026 Valar Atomics / NVIDIA Nuclear AI Data Center · Grist described the Emery County plan as a 30 MW nuclear-powered AI data center, separate from Valar's larger Carbon County complex. (Grist, Oct. 7, 2026)
2. July 1, 2026 Valar Atomics / NVIDIA Nuclear AI Data Center · Valar and NVIDIA announced they are exploring a reactor-powered 30 MW AI data center; the Ward250 reached criticality June 18, 2026, and was producing 100 kW. (Deseret News, July 1, 2026; FOX 13 News, July 1, 2026)

Statewide

Utah exempts purchases of machinery and equipment by qualifying data centers (new operations built since July 2016 with 150,000 sq ft or more) from sales and use tax under Utah Code 59-12-104(84); the qualifying data center definition in 59-12-102 was last amended by S.B. 114 (2020). (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) S.B. 132 (2025), Electric Utility Amendments, effective May 7, 2025, created Title 54, Chapter 26 for customers expecting 100 MW or more: utility large-load contracts that the PSC must approve or reject within 60 days, or private generation, with the large customer paying its incremental costs; it covers service starting by Dec. 31, 2034. (Utah Legislature, 2025; Public Service Commission of Utah, May 9, 2025) The PSC opened rulemaking docket 25-R318-01 in May 2025 to write rules for S.B. 132's large-load service requirements. (Public Service Commission of Utah, May 9, 2025) In docket 26-035-05 the PSC on April 10, 2026, approved a settlement and a Rocky Mountain Power large-load service contract with an unnamed customer of more than 100 MW, finding other customers would not bear its costs. (Public Service Commission of Utah (Rocky Mountain Power filing), Feb. 10, 2026; Public Service Commission of Utah, April 10, 2026) H.B. 76 (2026), Data Center Water Transparency Amendments, effective May 6, 2026, requires new data centers withdrawing 75 acre-feet a year or more to report expected and actual water withdrawals to the Division of Water Rights, which must publish the data. (Utah Legislature, 2026) H.B. 507 (2026), effective May 6, 2026, bars political subdivisions from giving incentives to large-load data centers (100 MW or more) from May 6, 2027, unless they sit in a regionally significant development zone, and creates an optional county energy excise tax. (Utah Legislature, 2026; Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) Operation Gigawatt, launched by Gov. Cox in 2024, aims to double Utah's power generation capacity within a decade. (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) Executive Order 2026-03 (May 29, 2026) set a state Data Center Framework covering water, air, wildlife, ratepayers, rural growth and public comment, which agencies must apply. (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026; Deseret News, May 29, 2026) H.B. 325 (2013) lets the MIDA board levy an energy tax of up to 6% of the delivered value of energy in MIDA project areas; Data Center Knowledge reported it would apply to the NSA Utah Data Center at Camp Williams. (Utah State Legislature, March 2013; Data Center Knowledge, May 20, 2013) Utah data centers →