Data Centers

Nevada's future? See the investigative report by Scott Williams, guest writer to Basin & Range Watch, on the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in northern Nevada. Greenlink West Transmission Project ends to the Comstock Meadows Substation in order to feed hungry data centers electicity generated by natural gas and solar power. Nevada's wildlands are at risk.

See the story on this page, below, and on our Substack at https://basinandrangewatch.substack.com/p/why-is-your-electric-bill-going-up

Why is Your Electric Bill Going Up?

Solar Electricity Conveyed on NV Energy's Greenlink Transmission Lines Will Go to Data Centers

Special Investigative Report by Scott H. Williams

Overlooking the Truckee River along USA Parkway in Storey County, Nevada, across from a pair of concrete signs proclaiming "Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center" and "Worlds Largest," an ominous metal sentinel looms over the traffic exiting Interstate 80, bound for any of about two dozen warehouses and construction sites. A plaque bolted down at the foot of a roughly human-sized archway in the sculpture's base reads:

TRANSITION PORTAL

Artist Kate Raudenbush

Commissioned by The Nevada Department of Transportation

November 17, 2017

A symbolic rite of passage to honor humanity's transition to a sustainable and harmonious technological future.

Below the text, a QR code is etched into the stainless steel. When scanned with a smart phone, the code navigates to an error page.

Beyond this relatively small arch, in a high desert valley rapidly filling with massive data centers, lies the northern terminus of the Greenlink West transmission line at Comstock Meadows Substation.

When the Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary NV Energy officially announced the 525 kV transmission line project known as Greenlink West, the electric utility corporation explicitly described the project as vital and necessary to fulfill the State of Nevada's mandate to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels. In its July 2021 Plan of Development document, NV Energy stated:

"Development of the Greenlink West Transmission Project facilitates access to renewable energy zones and is necessary to accommodate decommissioning of conventional fossil fuel generation resources."

In 2021, NV Energy estimated the combined cost for construction of the Greenlink North and Greenlink West transmission projects to be $2.5 billion. By the time the project was granted federal approval in September 2024, that number had ballooned to $4.2 billion, and the company was already appealing to the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to approve increases in the base rate for electricity. In other words, NV Energy sought to pass a portion of the cost of construction on to their "customers," who did not ask for the transmission line to be built, had extremely limited opportunity for public comment on the proposal, and do not have any options for electricity service other than Nevada's monopoly utility company.

In September 2025, the PUC approved a rate hike of $4 per month in Southern Nevada specifically to recoup Greenlink West construction costs, in addition to a state-wide peak usage rate that will increase electricity bills by over $25 for most customers. This rate hike fits into a broader trend of increasing economic stress on a growing proportion of Americans, with difficulty affording electric bills reported as particularly acute. An analysis from ICF suggests that electricity rates could increase as much as 100% by 2050.

Since the Greenlink project was announced, Basin and Range Watch has fought to stop it, primarily on the grounds that, in addition to damage to Nevada wild lands from construction of the transmission line itself, this infrastructure will accelerate rapid development of poorly sited industrial solar installations on public lands adjacent to the line. Greenlink West is a hairline fracture through some of the last remaining unbroken wild land in the lower 48 states, opening Nevada's outback to a new, green extraction that proposes to turn this landscape into a sacrifice zone in the name of decarbonization.

But where and to whom will this brave new voltage actually flow?

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in September 2025 that NV Energy acknowledged a suite of tech companies will be allowed to access electricity transmitted via Greenlink lines. The combined Greenlink North and West will be able to transmit up to 5,000 megawatts (MW). NV Energy has promised Switch, Novva, and others up to 4,000 MW for a complex of massive AI data centers in the greater Reno area.

This recent wave of high-tech development in northern Nevada is concentrated at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, along the Truckee River between Sparks and Reno, where Switch opened a 130 MW data center next door to the Tesla Gigafactory in 2017. Since then, Google, Tract, EdgeCore, Novva, Vantage, PowerHouse, Apple, Blockchains, and Microsoft also acquired land in the area and began building data centers. Tucked in behind Google's data center complex at the south end of Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center is NV Energy's Comstock Meadows Substation, currently undergoing an expansion to become the northernmost node of Greenlink.

In order to keep up with the spike in electricity demand caused by these new data centers, Mark IV Capital has announced plans to construct a 1,800 MW natural gas generating station in nearby Fernley, with intent to transfer the plant to NV Energy. This, too, fits a broader trend of big tech rushing to build fossil fuel-powered generating stations to power data centers. Incidentally, the southern terminus of the Greenlink West transmission line is at the Apex Generating Station northeast of Las Vegas, which will enable NV Energy to bring power produced there from natural gas all the way to northern Nevada.

Reporting and speculation on the impact of the current boom in artificial intelligence has become abundant, verging on overwhelming, at the close of 2025. In the short term, anxiety is mounting over the fact that investment in AI data centers is solely responsible for the U.S. having net positive GDP growth in the past year. We would be in a recession without growth in this one industry. By now, all of the biggest news outlets have run a story on this issue. So, let's add to the noise. Here are some of the problems with AI that we know about so far: 

●      AI processes and data centers consume tremendous amounts of electricity.

●      AI data centers consume a lot of water for cooling. One study estimated that data centers in the U.S. used 17.5 billion gallons in 2023.

●      "AI companion" chatbots have introduced the human race to a new mental illness: AI Psychosis, where people develop relationships with AI personalities that have led to suicide, divorce, and social isolation.

●      AI's practical business applications as a corporate efficiency tool are not panning out to be as revolutionary as boosters claim, in spite of trillions of dollars in investment.

●      This massive investment into building AI data centers is unlikely to return, which has prompted many economists to warn that the AI industry has caused an unsustainable bubble.

This last point, while depressing and scary, can be understood as a point of leverage for anyone looking for a way to oppose a data center in their area. These companies are stretched so thin, running on faith and fumes, that vocal opposition can make more of a difference. For inspiration, look to Tucson, whose city council unanimously rejected a proposed Amazon Web Services data center in August 2025. Credit is entirely due to a community mobilization to put pressure on the city council and Amazon, stating loud and clear "No Desert Data Center."

If the environmental damage and outright grift of the AI project at large aren't enough to turn you against your nearest data center and the Greenlink transmission line, let the final straw be your rising electricity bill. Nevadans have now joined the ranks of ordinary working people subsidizing the destruction wreaked by Big Tech through their local electric utility. Will Greenlink ever fulfill its promise to bring clean energy to Nevada homes and businesses? Is the state any closer to its decarbonization goals?

We are not entirely at the mercy of these corporations, in spite of their immense wealth and influence. If you hear about a data center proposed near you, submit comments, attend local government meetings, and connect with other citizens who share your outrage. These actions are effective. And support Basin and Range Watch, whose fight against Greenlink West continues with a lawsuit alongside Friends of Nevada Wilderness.