A land rezoning request for a data center in Lyon County, Nevada, has been approved by the local authorities.

On December 4, the Lyon County Board of County Commissioners agreed to change the land use designation from Agriculture to Specific Plan for the so-called ‘Monarch Data Center.’

Although the campus still requires additional approval before construction can begin, some citizens have already expressed their opposition to the data center, citing common concerns about the potential environmental impact and accusing officials of corruption.

The development will contain a “north” and “south” campus, a battery energy storage system, a natural gas backup system, a substation, and power lines across two land parcels at 150 Penrose Lane and 155 Penrose Lane, totaling 505 acres.

According to the development plan submitted by developer Copia Power, a green energy firm backed by private equity firm Carlyle Group, the first phase of development will provide 150MW of capacity across two to four data center buildings.

It is unclear what the total capacity of the campus will be at full completion, but the plan does state that the natural gas system will provide up to 500MW of capacity.

The developer estimates that the campus will be fully completed within two to three years, but added that development will also be “largely dependent on the utility infrastructure availability over a five to 10 year time span.”

This refers to the completion of two nearby energy infrastructure projects spearheaded by Nevada’s public utility NV Energy – namely, the Walker River Substation complex and a transmission line buildout called the Greenlink project.

The identity of the data center’s end-user is currently unknown.

Founded in 2021, Copia Power currently operates 750MW worth of energy generation assets, with most of its infrastructure located in the Western US. It has more than 37GW in its generation pipeline and more than 10GW in its load pipeline.

Various big operators like Switch, Apply, eBay, Google, Tract, and Microsoft have a presence in the area around Reno, which includes Lyon County.