A division of Wyoming’s environmental quality agency in a 4-2 vote Tuesday granted the request of a solar power company to increase one of its Laramie County projects’ battery storage by 50% — amid an emotional objection by a fourth-generation rancher living next door.

The boost is to satisfy the power generation needs of a large-scale consumer, multinational, Canadian energy company Enbridge told the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Industrial Siting Division during a public meeting Tuesday in Cheyenne.

Though Enbridge didn’t name the large-scale consumer, others at the meeting said it’s a data center looking to settle in the area.

Enbridge declined to confirm the point in a later email comment to Cowboy State Daily.

The Two Cowboys

Enbridge’s solar generation project slat

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