This week, the Weld County Board of County Commissioners approved a permit 5-0 for Global AI to operate a data center on the site of a former Kodak/Carestream industrial campus. Global AI “must still get all required permits and approvals before construction” on the data center can proceed.
The proposal reflects changes in county code meant to accommodate data centers. The Use by Special Review permit attaches continuous noise monitoring, closed-loop cooling, and decommissioning plan and bond requirements.
Colorado Newsline reports that the data center is expected to use 27.5 megawatts (MW) of capacity during its first phase. Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA) has reportedly issued a “will-serve” letter for 35 MW of power. Total investment in the project could range between $2 billion and $20 billion depending on the scale of the project, as growth up to a potential 1 gigawatt (GW) would require additional transmission and generation.
The data center is anticipated to have “low ongoing water demand due to a closed-loop cooling system that continuously reuses water.” The initial water fill for the cooling systems is anticipated to be about 65,000 gallons, with an annual top off of about 6,500 gallons. To put that in perspective, a typical household uses about 150,000 gallons per year; the entire fill for the data center is about 5.2 months of a single household’s water consumption, and the annual top-off about two weeks of typical household use. All water would be treated at an on-site wastewater treatment facility.
County Commissioner Jason Maxey said, “In my opinion, the appropriate place for this type of development is in industrial zoned land,” and the Global AI site fits the bill. The site, originally launched in the late 1960s, was a Kodak campus employing 3,000 people at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s. Its successor at the site, Carestream, closed its facility in 2024. The site currently sits on unincorporated county land, but both Windsor and Greeley have “shown a willingness to annex the data center site into their respective municipalities.” Greeley passed a pre-annexation agreement on September 8, giving 18 months to negotiate.
Weld County is leading the way for responsible development, as it has with hydraulic fracturing. In 2019, when local governments were given authority over oil and gas siting through SB 19-181, most used it to slow development, but Weld County instead stood up the first local oil and gas department to process permits and enforce conditions.
Where other Colorado jurisdictions have responded with data center moratoriums, Weld acted quickly to write its review standard. Global AI still has to earn the more difficult permits for construction and reach an annexation agreement, but those questions can be hammered out in reference to Weld’s clear criteria rather than in the face of indefinite moratoriums.