Google Project Helium (Sharon)
Sharon, Barber County, KS
Plans have been filed for Google Project Helium (Sharon), a data center in Sharon, KS. 1.7 million sq ft, air-cooled Google data center campus approximately 8 miles east of Medicine Lodge, near Sharon, Barber County. Barber County Commission approved the development agreement 2-0 (one commissioner abstaining) on August 30, 2026. Construction expected to begin early 2027, operations projected to start in 2030; ~500 permanent jobs projected and ~$10M/year in property tax estimated for the county (Kansas allows up to 20 years of tax exemption for large data centers, so actual near-term revenue may be lower). Some residents raised transparency concerns during the approval process.
Project status
- Announced
- Permitting
- Under constructionNot yet
- OperationalNot yet
Recorded changes
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Community sentiment
Should this project be built?
What’s next
Election Day is in 11 days.
Latest news
Nothing written about this data center yet.
Stories about it, and about Barber County, KS, land here.
Records and documentation
Kansas state legislation
- SB553 - Data centers and water use consumption reportingRequires water use consumption reporting related to data centers.Download
- SB 98 (Data Center Sales Tax Exemption)Kansas 2025 law creating a 20-year state and local sales tax exemption for qualifying data centers.Download
- Resolution 2026-4 (Moratorium)Harvey County, Kansas resolution imposing a data center development moratorium, January 13, 2026.Download
- SB400 - Requiring data centers to use closed-loop cooling systems to mitigate water consumption.Description comingDownload
- SB526 - Requiring data centers to be located on land that was zoned for industrial or manufacturing uses or was not zoned on July 1, 2025, to qualify for the sales tax exemption for qualified data centers.Description comingDownload
- SB531 - Prohibiting the development or operation of any new large load data center in a county that has had a drought emergency declared for such county pursuant to the Kansas emergency management act within the preceding three years.Description comingDownload
Site details
- Operator
- County
- Barber County, KS
- Address
- Sharon, KS
- Stage
- Planned
Capacity and size: not on file
Map
Photos
https://www.mrt.com/business/oil/article/permian-basin-data-center-20375882.php
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An $8 billion Treasury break helped Meta’s tax rate hit 2%. Senators want data center tax answersFortune
The states with the fewest and most data centers, rankedBusiness Insider
Finns Are Seething After Google Illegally Toppled 250,000 Trees for a Data CenterMother Jones
Google offer to pay others to help data center powerArkansas Online
This bill would make data centers pay their own way for powerSalt Lake City Deseret News
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