This Under-the-Radar Utility Just Signed a Massive Data Center Deal Without Anyone Noticing

Black Hills (BKH) landed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Google to supply 590 megawatts to a data center in Cheyenne, a deal that puts a small-cap South Dakota utility squarely in the AI power-demand story. Google's listed share classes are GOOG, GOOGL, GOOGM and GOOGN.

The numbers carry the thesis. The agreement requires $1.8 billion in capital investment. In return, BKH expects the contract to generate $150 million in net income by 2030 and $2.4 billion in free cash flow over its lifetime. That is a long-dated, contracted revenue stream tied to a single hyperscale customer, and the 22-year term stretches well past a typical planning horizon.

The deal reflects a broader pattern: smaller utilities capturing electricity demand from AI data centers, not only the large independent power names. Interpretation: a $150 million net income target is material for a small-cap utility, and the $1.8 billion build-out means BKH's capital program and financing needs will matter as much as the headline contract. Execution on that spending is where the equity story gets tested.

The piece makes no claim about BKH's share price reaction, so the market may not yet have fully priced a deal the article says few noticed.