Two Western utilities announced a merger Tuesday that they said would help meet skyrocketing electricity demand.
Black Hills and NorthWestern Energy Group will merge to create a $7.8 billion regulated electric and natural gas utility serving parts of eight states. The combined company — which isn’t yet named — will serve 2.1 million customers spanning from Arkansas to Montana across the Great Plains.
That’s an area that’s expected to see growth in data center construction and other large loads as tech companies and manufacturers seek out low-cost power and available land and resources.
NorthWestern Energy, for example, announced a deal last month with developer Quantica Infrastructure to build a data center that will require 1,000 megawatts of energy — or nearly all of the 1,065 MW of nameplate generation the utility owns in Montana. Black Hills, meanwhile, is powering an $800 million Meta data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
