Voters in Oklahoma have given the green light to the local utility to provide power to a planned data center campus.
As reported by Oklahoma’s News 4 and the Stillwater News Press, voters in Stillwater last week voted in favor of a proposition for OG&E to serve power to an upcoming data center campus.
The vote was to determine if OG&E would be authorized to sell power to the development. Under the franchise agreement, the City of Stillwater will receive a franchise fee of approximately $2.25 million per data center, per year, once fully operational.
“Big win for Stillwater tonight with the approval of the OG&E franchise agreement!,” Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce said on Facebook. “There’s still a way to go to make the data center project a reality, but I am encouraged to see that an overwhelming majority of Stillwegians support the pursuit of economic development in our community.”
News of a proposed campus in Stillwater surfaced in July, after Mayor Joyce posted on Facebook that the City was looking at a six-building development from a company known as Kipper LLC. Stillwater's Planning Commission then voted unanimously in favor of the project.
Stillwater Electric Utility is a public power provider; in order to allow OG&E to provide electricity to the data centers, Oklahoma law required a vote of the people. A similar vote was required in 2007 for OG&E to serve Oklahoma State University campus.
The Oklahoma State Election Board showed that a total of 14,180 people voted on the franchise agreement. Of that, total, 10,250 voted in favor of the proposal.
A no vote would have seen an alternative electricity provider for the data center project need to be determined. Stillwater officials said this would likely have been Stillwater Electric Utility and required additional infrastructure investment to the power grid.
The planned campus will reportedly have "at least one, and potentially up to six, data center facilities valued at $500 million each," bringing the total potential investment up to $3bn.
The campus would be located on 400 acres north of the former Armstrong facility, land which is owned by the state. Specifically, it is south of East Richmond Road, north of East Airport Road, east of North Perkins Road, and west of North Jardot Road.
Stillwater has said the unnamed company behind the project is a Fortune 100 firm “specializing in artificial intelligence and data processing,” acting through a subsidiary entity, Kipper LLC.
Each phase will include a data center comprised of approximately 300,000 square feet (28,870 sqm). Phase I could be completed as early as 2027.
