The largest coal-fired power plant in North Dakota could be set to power a data center.

According to reporting from inforum, the McLean County Commission approved a request from Rainbow Energy, an independent power producer, to convert the zoning classification of 800 acres of land near the plant from agricultural land into commercial.

The approval, which was tendered in June, includes plans to develop data centers with a capacity of up to 300MW on the site.

The industrial site would, in turn, be powered directly by the Rainbow Energy-owned Coal Creek power plant, a 1.151GW coal-fired power plant located in Underwood, McLean, North Dakota. Rainbow already operates a 200MW data center on the site of the coal plant, which is directly powered by the facility.

The plant, which has been operational since 1979, uses approximately eight million tons of coal every year. It previously supplied energy to Minnesota via the Nexus power line. In recent years, the plant has been facing financial difficulties, with the previous owner, Great River, a wholesale electric power cooperative, announcing its intention to shutter the plant back in 2020, leading state officials to scramble to find another buyer. In 2022, Rainbow Energy purchased the plant, as well as the 436-mile Nexus line.

If constructed, the 300MW data center complex, in addition to the already existing facility, would use just under half of the capacity of the plant, providing a stable, reliable source of income.

No project has been announced for the industrial park as of yet, according to county officials, with discussions ongoing. In addition, any project built at the site will require a permit from the council, who hold the power to deny projects if they fail to provide adequate fire protection.

The move to power a data center directly from a coal plant flies in the face of most data center operators' clean energy targets. However, with the current White House administration actively supporting the expansion of coal-fired generation, we could see data center developers become more inclined to power their operations off the fuel.

Previous attempts have however, failed. In May, Hallador Energy, which had signed a deal with a data center provider to power an installation with coal-fired generation, saw that deal fall through.

While direct power deals have not come to fruition, some utilities have extended the life of their coal-fired assets in order to meet the skyrocketing demand emanating from the data center market. In February, it was reported that Southern Company was seeking to extend the life of three coal-fired plants in Mississippi and Georgia, which have a combined capacity of 8.2GW.