Data centers in Lyon County, Nevada: 3 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Lyon County keeps approving data center land deals while nearby Reno, Nye and Humboldt counties have paused theirs. Microsoft has bought about 575 acres here since 2023, including 274 acres near the Silver Springs Airport and 300.7 acres in Fernley's Victory Logistics District, without saying what it plans to build. Tract has bought a further 1,060 acres in Silver Springs, and on August 6 county commissioners voted 3-1 to approve zoning for Copia Power's proposed 1,000-megawatt Monarch Data Center on about 505 acres near Yerington.

Monarch would be 4.6 million square feet in eight buildings, with a 500-megawatt battery system and a 500-megawatt gas plant that Copia says would normally run only as backup, though it told commissioners the plant could run around the clock. Commissioner Robert Jacobson noted Copia's own materials put its water use at under 100 acre-feet a year while the county's staff report says under 800, for the same air-cooled, closed-loop system. The Walker River Paiute and Yerington Paiute tribes have passed resolutions opposing the project, and the Sierra Club's Toiyabe Chapter says it may be Nevada's first data center to rely mainly on groundwater in an already over-appropriated basin.

Residents asked commissioners for a moratorium on July 2; instead, commissioners created a new power district to serve the area and approved a permit for NV Energy's Greenlink transmission line through the county. "Please do not bury decisions involving industrial power, natural gas infrastructure, utilities... inside a 521-page agenda," resident Matthew Winterhawk wrote. Copia still needs final design approval, state water and environmental permits, and to finish buying the land; the Sierra Club says it will "pursue every available legal avenue." The county's own data center ordinance, which would not apply to Monarch, went back to staff after a commissioner called its 150-foot setback "absolutely unacceptable," with no date set for its return.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.