How big is Stratos?: The Stratos Project

Commission vote May 4. Be there. May 4, 2026 4:00 PM Box Elder County Fairgrounds Contact commissioners →

Scale, in everyday units

The same project, four ways.

Four comparisons show the scale: homes, emissions, gas, and water rights.

How much electricity?

~4×

Enough generation for about 5.1M Utah-style homes. Utah has about 1.18M households.

How much environmental impact?

~2×

No project-specific environmental-impact estimate has been published. A gas-power calculation at 60% capacity suggests roughly doubling Utah's current electric-power emissions, released from a project area about 35 miles from Brigham City.

How much gas?

+105%

About one Utah's worth of natural-gas demand. Utah plus Stratos would roughly double current statewide use.

How much water is tied up?

4.24BGAL/YR

About 4.24 billion gallons per year in contracted rights (= 13,000 acre-feet per year). Actual project demand has not been published.

Scale check

How large would Stratos be?

This compares Stratos with the combined power capacity of every data center now operating in Utah.

Average existing Utah data center · 48 facilities running today~20 MW
All operational Utah data centers, combined · 48 facilities920 MW
Stratos Phase 1 · proposed3 GW
Stratos full buildout · proposed9 GW

Phase 1 ≈ 3× the entire current Utah industry. All 48 Utah data centers running today add up to about 920 MW. Stratos Phase 1 alone (3 GW) would be more than 3× that. Full buildout (9 GW) would be nearly 10× the entire current Utah industry. It would be added on top of Utah's grid, not drawn from it.

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Power & capacity

9 GW full buildout · 3 GW Phase 1 · 40,000 acres Stated by Hilary Venable (MIDA project area director) at the April 27, 2026 special meeting. Note: she said "7.5 to 8 GW" in the meeting; broader public reporting and MIDA board materials reference up to 9 GW. Watch at 3:45 →
3 GW Phase 1 confirmation Stated by Paul Morris (MIDA Executive Director) at the April 22, 2026 commission meeting. Watch at 20:44 →
Utah net summer generating capacity: 10,277 MW (2024) U.S. Energy Information Administration, Utah Electricity Profile 2024 (released Nov 10, 2025). eia.gov/electricity/state/utah →
Utah total annual electricity generation: 35.1 TWh (2024) U.S. Energy Information Administration, Utah Electricity Profile 2024 (in-state generation). eia.gov/electricity/state/utah →
Utah household count: ~1.18M (2024) U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, 2024 ACS 1-year estimates. census.gov/quickfacts/UT →
Utah residential electricity ~9,288 kWh/yr per household EIA Sales, Revenue, and Average Price tables (2024). eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price →
5.1M Utah-style homes from 9 GW (derived) Step-by-step: 9 GW × 60% capacity factor × 8,760 hr/yr = 47,304,000 MWh/yr = 47.3 TWh. Divided by 9,288 kWh/yr per Utah household = ~5,093,000 households, rounded to 5.1M. Phase 1 (3 GW) yields ~15.8 TWh ÷ 9,288 kWh = ~1.7M households-equivalent.
3× Phase 1 / ~10× full buildout vs all operating Utah data centers (derived) Step-by-step: all 48 operational Utah data centers combined draw ~920 MW (Deseret News, April 2026). Stratos Phase 1 = 3,000 MW ÷ 920 MW = ~3.3× the entire current Utah industry. Stratos full = 9,000 MW ÷ 920 MW = ~9.8×, rounded to ~10×.

Emissions

MIDA has not published an emissions estimate for the project Reviewed both meeting recordings (April 22 and April 27) end-to-end; no quantified CO₂, NO_x, or particulate figures were presented for Phase 1 or full buildout. The numbers on this page are derived as described below.
Stratos Phase 1 ≈ 6.4 MMT CO₂/yr · Full buildout ≈ 19.3 MMT CO₂/yr (derived) Calculated as: GW capacity × 60% capacity factor × 8,760 hours × 900 lb CO₂/MWh ÷ 2,204.6. Emission factor from EPA's standard for new natural-gas combined-cycle plants. EPA GHG equivalencies →
Utah electric-power CO₂: 20.9 MMT (2023) EIA State Energy Data System (SEDS): Utah electric power CO₂. eia.gov SEDS Utah →
"4.2 million cars on the road" framing EPA estimates a typical American passenger vehicle emits 4.6 metric tonnes CO₂/yr. 19.3 MMT ÷ 4.6 ≈ 4.2 million cars. EPA equivalencies →

Natural gas

Stratos Phase 1 ≈ 97 Bcf/yr · Full buildout ≈ 290 Bcf/yr (derived) Step-by-step for 1 GW at 60% capacity factor:
· Generation: 1 GW × 60% × 8,760 hr/yr = 5,256,000 MWh/yr
· Heat input: 5,256,000 MWh × 6,400 Btu/kWh × 1,000 = 33,638 billion Btu (33.6 TBtu)
· Volume: 33.6 TBtu ÷ 1,037 Btu per cubic foot of pipeline gas = ~32.4 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per GW
Phase 1 (3 GW) → ~97 Bcf/yr. Full buildout (9 GW) → ~290 Bcf/yr. Heat-rate source: EIA AEO 2025 Cost & Performance Table 8.2 →; gas heat content: EIA heat content of natural gas →
Utah natural gas consumption: 276.5 Bcf (2024, all sectors) EIA Natural Gas Consumption by End Use, Utah. eia.gov/ng/Utah →
Ruby Pipeline as project gas source Hilary Venable named the Ruby pipeline as a key site-selection asset in her opening April 27 presentation. Austin Pritchett later called it "the catalyst of the project." Watch at 28:58 → · Pipeline capacity 1.5 Bcf/day per EIA. Tallgrass Energy acquired Ruby in 2023 after Chapter 11.

Water

3,000 AF on-site + 10,000 AF near Snowville under contract = 13,000 AF water rights Stated by Austin Pritchett in answer to Hilary Venable in the April 27, 2026 meeting. Watch at 12:30 →
"Zero-water turbine" technology aspiration / not yet contractually secured Stated by Hilary Venable, April 27, 2026. The 13,000 AF reflects current rights as a fallback; closed-loop air-cooled turbines would lower demand significantly if secured. Watch at 11:51 →
13,000 acre-feet ≈ 4.24 billion gallons / year ≈ 11.6 million gallons / day Conversion: 1 acre-foot = 325,851.4 U.S. gallons (USGS). 13,000 × 325,851 ≈ 4,236,063,000 gal/yr. USGS Circular 1268 →
Great Salt Lake annual structural deficit: ~800K–1.2M AF/yr since 2020 Compiled from USGS water-budget research and Grow the Flow analysis. USGS OFR 78-912 → · Grow the Flow (April 2026) →

Other Utah data centers

~920 MW operational across 48 Utah data centers · 2.6 GW under construction Deseret News, April 2026. Deseret News →
Novva, West Jordan: 200 MW on-site gas (approved Dec 2024) Grist, Utah data-center boom coverage. Grist →
Joule Capital Partners, Millard County: 1 GW Phase 1 (proposed 2025) Deseret News, October 2025. Deseret News →

View map

The same project, four ways.

How much electricity? Estimated

How much environmental impact? Estimated

How much gas? Estimated

How much water is tied up?

How large would Stratos be?

How much electricity?

How much environmental impact?

How much gas?