Will Kevin O’Leary’s massive Utah data center actually get built? Don’t count on it, says this energy analyst
Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary's audacious "Stratos Project," also known as Wonder Valley, a proposed 9-gigawatt (GW) data center in Utah spanning 40,000 acres, is facing intense skepticism regarding its feasibility. Olivia Wang, a research analyst at Sightline Climate, an energy transition intelligence firm, assigns the project a mere 15% likelihood of materialization, citing a conspicuous absence of fundamental "building blocks." Critical components such as secured financing, definitive power contracts, confirmed tenant agreements, and essential environmental permits—particularly an air permit—remain unaddressed, directly contradicting optimistic construction timelines from O'Leary Digital and its joint venture partner, West GenCo. The sheer scale of the project, poised to consume more than double Utah's average electricity use and operate entirely off-grid, is unprecedented and currently lacks any operational precedent within the industry.