The mega-scale ones almost all have power as part of the ramp-up process. They are also a massive tax benefit.

Looking at the controversial Stratos data center in Box Elder County:

Box Elder County baseline (before Stratos): 2026 General Fund revenue: $36.1M 2026 General Fund tax revenue: $21.1M 2026 Municipal Service Fund: $18.8M

Stratos (Phase 1): Power: 3 GW Revenue expected: $30M/year Revenue as % of existing county tax rev: 142%

Stratos (Full Buildout): Power: ~9 GW Revenue expected: $108M/year Revenue as % of existing county tax rev: 512%

Planned power details: - Box Elder says it will use natural gas from the nearby Ruby Pipeline. - MIDA describes it as dedicated on-site generation designed to limit demand on the existing grid. - The project ramps from ~3 GW in Phase 1 to ~9 GW at full buildout.

I'll acknowledge that the MIDA structure is not a normal county tax bill and comes with explicit energy-rate discounts, but given that the county could hit 500%+ of its previous tax revenue, I think that's a very easy deal for the county to make.

Data sourced from: https://www.midaut.org/stratos