Enerfore Digital has been given the go-ahead to apply for a conditional use permit for a data center in Williams County, North Dakota.
First reported by KFYR, Enerfore Digital initially applied for the build in the Dry Fork Township in July, but the application was denied as the site was less than a mile from three residential homes.
County documents revealed the data center facility will span 20,000 sq ft (2,000 sqm) on a 10-acre site, and will be used for cryptomining.
The area of the facility is already zoned as heavy-industrial, one of the requirements for the build, but regulations currently require the center to be set back at least one mile from family dwellings and schools.
Last month, representatives from the company met with the Williams County Commission to appeal the decision, claiming that the company can mitigate noise pollution.
Despite letters asking that the appeal be denied, the commission voted 4-0 to allow Enerfore to move forward with their proposal. A sound study and public comment are the next steps.
No date has been scheduled for the Williams County Planning and Zoning Commission to approve the proposal, but Enerfore is aiming for its data center to be operational in early 2025.
Headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, Enerfore Digital has six data center locations with a combined 200MW of capacity listed on its website, though details are not provided. The company also has a presence in Texas.
North Dakota does not have a large data center market, with Data Center Map listing only seven facilities in the state. Despite this, it saw the highest relative growth in electricity demand caused by data centers - 37 percent in four years - according to a July 2024 report from the Energy Information Administration.
Data center companies operating in North Dakota include cryptomining and AI provider Applied Digital, which secured $200 million in financing to build out its facilities in the state in June of this year. It has agreed to a deal with an unnamed hyperscaler which will take up space at the expanded facility.
The Atlas Power data center, another cryptomining facility, is also currently under construction in the state. The project is estimated to consume approximately 14 times the power of Williston - North Dakota’s sixth-largest city.
Last month, DCD reported that two companies are seeking to develop $125 billion AI data centers in North Dakota, with one of them rumored to be Microsoft.
The state is also one of the few in the US that produces more energy than it uses and is the third-largest producer of crude oil in the nation.
Later this month, the Morton County Commission in North Dakota is set to hold a meeting about whether it should implement a moratorium on data centers within its borders as a preventative measure, as reported by The Bismarck Tribune.