Following the announcement of the Stratos data center in May 2026, Utah Clean Energy has been leading the way to understand the energy-related impacts of data centers of large off-grid hyperscale projects like Stratos. Our early analysis of the air pollution, carbon emissions, and water consumption associated with powering the proposed 9 gigawatts (9GW) Stratos project with 100% natural gas helped inform the Utah dialogue on the project. Building on our work, a recent analysis by EmPower Analytics Group offers a deeper understanding of the health and economic impacts of what could be the largest data center in the world. The analysis, commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), affirms our findings that Stratos would pollute the air we breathe and jeopardize the health and well-being of communities near the project site and in the surrounding region. Here are the report’s key findings:
Stratos would significantly worsen air quality and public health.
At the full proposed build-out of 9 GW, air pollution from Stratos is estimated to cause up to 45 additional premature deaths per year and up to $690 million in health-related economic damages per year. There will also be increased asthma cases, heart attacks, hospital visits, and lost work and school days for communities near the Stratos project, along the Wasatch Front, and in neighboring states.
Power generation choices and scale matter.
Stratos developers have not confirmed the details of the project, including the technology that will be used to generate power or the amount of power – the initial scale was 9 GW, but a recent water permit application cites 7.5 GW of energy. The analysis from Empower Analytics modeled both a 3 GW initial phase and a 9 GW full build out, including emissions scenarios for the two most likely forms of on-site gas power generation: reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) and combined cycle combustion turbines (CCCT). Powering the data center with RICE would cause 5 to 6 times the premature deaths and health-related economic damages compared to the CCCT scenario. And increasing capacity from 3 GW to 9 GW almost triples the estimated harms under either technology scenario. It is important to note that no air permit applications have been filed for this project yet, but these estimates give us an idea of the impacts that a project of this scale would have under different capacity and technology scenarios.
Northern Utah’s air pollution would only get worse.
With more than our share of orange and red air days, wintertime inversions, summertime ozone, and wildfire smoke, Utahns are no stranger to breathing harmful air. Parts of Northern Utah are already in non-attainment or maintenance designations under federal air quality standards, and we often exceed some of the most polluted cities on earth when the conditions trap pollutants in for days and sometimes weeks on end—out of over 200 metropolitan areas, the Salt Lake, Provo, Orem area ranked 13th for ozone and 22nd for particle pollution in the 2026 American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report. Adding such a large emitting source to this region will impose more harm on Utah’s families, with children, older adults, and those with existing respiratory issues more adversely impacted.
Utah policymakers and regulators should consider the health and economic impacts identified in this analysis and account for them as they consider the future of large-scale off-grid, fossil fueled data centers in Utah, including the Stratos Project.
Responsible off-grid data center developments should pursue the maximum amount of clean, emission-free generation resources ahead of fossil fuels. Project developers should prioritize technologies and approaches that protect Utahns, account for air quality impacts locally and regionally, and avoid planet-heating emissions. In addition to avoiding emissions, data center energy choices impact Utah’s limited water resources—beyond just the water needed for data center cooling, combusting fossil fuels in either RICE or CCCT also uses millions of gallons of water (with higher water usage for CCCT than RICE).
At a time when Utahns are calling for more leadership and solutions, the growing concerns about data center impacts should not be ignored. Rather, policymakers and decision-makers and the public should make least-regrets decisions and be good stewards of the place we love and call home.
We would like to clarify that Utah Clean Energy is not a solar company. We are a nonprofit organization that advocates for solar and other clean energy technologies, but we do not install or sell solar in any way.