Client work: Pronghorn Development
Antelope Data Campus: taking 1.5 GW through county approval in Iron County, Utah
Alpen Systems built the economic and fiscal impact case, led community and stakeholder engagement, and aligned workforce partners for the Antelope Data Campus, which secured its conditional use permit in June 2026.
At a glance
- Client
- Pronghorn Development
- Project
- Antelope Data Campus, a 1.5 GW data campus with its own behind-the-meter natural gas power plant
- Location
- Iron County, Utah
- Program value
- $30B
- Outcome
- Conditional use permit secured, June 2026
- Alpen practice
- Secure the license to build
The challenge
Pronghorn Development set out to take a 1.5 GW data campus, powered by its own on-site natural gas plant, through county approval in rural Iron County. It did so at a time of intense national scrutiny of data centers, when projects that bypassed local decision-makers were meeting public backlash.
What Alpen did
Alpen built the economic and fiscal impact case for the campus, showing the county the jobs, tax revenue and regional benefit at stake. We ran community and stakeholder engagement, and brought in workforce partners including the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).
Outcome
The campus secured its conditional use permit from Iron County in June 2026. Alpen continues to lead community relations as the project advances.
Why it worked
Antelope was approved by working with county officials rather than around them. Alpen CEO Scott Cuthbertson made that case in The Limits of Top-Down Expansion, published in Data Center POST in July 2026, which contrasts projects pushed through from the top with those, like Antelope, permitted through local government.