Adams County approves Xcel Energy transmission permit for Aurora data center, 5-0

Adams County commissioners on Feb. 25 approved an Xcel Energy permit to build a roughly 1.3-mile overhead transmission line — about a half-mile of it in unincorporated Adams County — to provide permanent service to a new data center campus in Aurora, voting 5-0 to grant the Areas and Activities of State Interest (ASI) permit RCU2024-8 and an associated development agreement.

County staff and the applicant said the line will interconnect with an existing 230-kilovolt transmission line and extend to a new substation on the data center campus being developed by Quality Technology Services (QTS). Nick Eagleson, a planner with the Community and Economic Development Department, told the board that staff recommended approval with 25 findings of fact, two conditions and one note, and that Planning Commission had recommended approval 7-0.

Xcel Energy’s siting and land-rights agent, Corey Miller, said the project will be built in a roughly 100-foot-wide right of way…