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NorthWestern Energy shares rose in morning trading on Wednesday, Oct. 7, after merger partner Black Hills Corp. disclosed agreements to supply electricity for a planned Google data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Investing.com reported that NorthWestern’s stock climbed 8.4% during the morning session, as investors weighed the project’s potential contribution to the companies’ planned combination.
Black Hills said it plans to invest $1.8 billion from 2027 through 2029 in new natural-gas generation to serve the project. The agreement is a substantial expansion of the utility’s large-customer business, but the data center is planned for Wyoming and the announced investment and projected earnings contribution belong to Black Hills—not NorthWestern as a standalone company.
Long-term agreements outline power supply
Black Hills announced on Oct. 6 that it had signed definitive agreements, effective Sept. 30, to serve the planned Google facility, with contract terms extending through 2048. The company said the project is expected to begin taking energy service in late 2027 and ramp up to its peak load in 2030.
The planned resource mix totals 2.7 gigawatts, including reserve margins. Black Hills expects to provide up to 590 megawatts of grid-connected service and manage about 2.1 gigawatts of third-party contracted Wyoming resources through a privately managed microgrid. The company also said the remaining 26 megawatts would come from market purchases and retail service under its industrial tariff.
Black Hills projects earnings and cash flow
The $1.8 billion investment is intended to fund 564 megawatts of company-owned generation. Black Hills said it expects to begin earning a return on that investment when construction starts in 2027, while microgrid management-fee revenue is expected to begin in late 2027 and increase as the data center’s demand ramps up.
The utility forecast the project could provide approximately $150 million in net income in 2030. It also estimated roughly $2.4 billion in unlevered free cash flow through 2048, after accounting for the planned $1.8 billion of generation capital spending. Those are company projections, not guaranteed outcomes; the announcement does not establish how much, if any, of the projected earnings would accrue to NorthWestern shareholders before the merger closes.
Merger link shapes the market reaction
NorthWestern and Black Hills have agreed to combine in an all-stock merger. Investing.com’s report described the planned combined company as Bright Horizon Energy and said a final decision from Montana’s Public Service Commission on the merger was expected between mid-October and mid-November. The commission’s approval remains a key condition to completion, according to Black Hills’ earlier company updates.
The Google announcement offers investors a concrete example of potential growth in large electricity customers, while also underscoring that merger-related benefits depend on regulatory approval and the future performance of the project. The announcement did not say that the data center was already operating or that the new generation had been built; the service and construction schedules begin in the coming years.
Trading context and open questions
Investing.com reported that NorthWestern reached an intraday high of $74.99, near its reported 52-week high of $75.18. It also noted that major U.S. indexes were lower during the session, while the utility’s merger partner Black Hills was also rising. The stock-price and market comparisons describe trading at the time of the report and may differ from closing figures.
Black Hills said it expects to finance the generation build through a mix of project cash flow, debt and other financing alternatives, and said it is evaluating options while seeking to maintain investment-grade credit ratings. The company has not yet disclosed a final financing mix. The project’s longer-term contribution will depend on construction, the scheduled ramp in power demand and fulfillment of the agreements through their term.
