Big ideas come naturally for celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, but Stratos—also known as Wonder Valley—is by far his largest. Whether this project ever sees daylight could be a wonder all its own. O’Leary fashions building one of the world’s largest data centers, which would sprawl a portion of 40,000 acres in Box Elder County, Utah. Why this remote, sparsely populated area in the northwestern corner of the state?

Her name is Ruby.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest on Stratos, backed by O’Leary and the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), whose audacious project is intended to support national defense, AI, and federal technology contractors. A critical component of this off-the-grid campus, of course, is securing power supply. Once fully operational, Stratos is projected to consume 9 GW of electrical juice—nearly twice the amount of Utah’s entire average electricity use. Natural gas is expected to provide the lion’s share of fuel to feed the project’s power generation. That’s where the Ruby Pipeline comes in.

The 683-mile Ruby, built in 2011, flows Rocky Mountain gas from the Opal, Wyo., hub through Utah, Nev., and Oregon. The pipeline, which saw financial struggles over the years, was acquired by Tallgrass in 2022. The system can transport 1.5 BCFD and is currently underutilized with capacity to spare, making it a no-brainer for O’Leary and his developers to lock down a large portion of the project’s energy.

Still, things are looking tough for this big idea and misinformation regarding the use of water from the dwindling Great Salt Lake and increased utility bills for residents isn’t helping. We look forward to learning more about this venture.