The Energence Utah development is being advanced by Energence Utah, with Elio Energy Group, through its development company, Elio Energy Development LLC (collectively, "Elio"), engaged as the project's development services provider.
Upon closing, the proposed investment is expected to mark an early step in Senmiao’s transformation into a digital infrastructure company. By combining Senmiao’s access to the public capital markets with Elio’s energy-project development experience, the Company expects to pursue investment and development opportunities in power-intensive data center infrastructure across the United States. Upon completion of the investment, Energence Utah is expected to serve as an initial asset supporting that strategy.
Building a GW+ AI Factory Site
The investment is intended to fund the development work required to convert Energence Utah's plan into an executable, financeable path to delivery; it is not intended to fund the full construction cost of the generation, storage or transmission assets.
Under Energence Utah's current phasing schedule, these development activities are intended to support an initial Year 2 target of 100 MW of firm capacity from planned gas generation, Solar PV, and battery storage; a Year 4 target of 700 MW of firm capacity supported by planned utility service, gas generation, storage and solar resources; and a Year 6 target of up to 1.2 GW of firm capacity as the campus reaches approximately 1.9 GW of total connected capacity. These targets remain subject to engineering, interconnection, permits, financing, equipment procurement, commercial agreements and construction.
A Transformational Entry into Digital Infrastructure
Senmiao believes Energence Utah may provide a differentiated entry point into digital infrastructure because the site is planned to combine land, power, permitting, connectivity and potential infrastructure-financing tools in a single master-planned campus. Rather than entering the sector through a single building or a limited power allocation, Senmiao is proposing to partner to advance a site designed to accommodate hyperscale data centers, power generation, energy storage and complementary advanced-manufacturing uses at scale, subject to the risks and conditions described below.
Partnering with an Established Energy Project Developer
Elio Energy Group is an established U.S. greenfield energy-project developer focused on utility-scale solar, energy storage and supporting power infrastructure. Elio’s development team has many years of experience advancing large-scale energy projects across the United States. Elio works with investors and joint-venture partners through the full development lifecycle, including site control, engineering, interconnection, permitting, stakeholder coordination, financing support and commercialization.
Elio reports an active development pipeline of approximately 3.5 GW, consisting of approximately 1.5 GW of energy generation and 2.0 GW of planned storage capacity targeted for delivery through 2029. At Energence Utah, Elio is expected to lead core development workstreams. Senmiao believes this development platform may strengthen the Company's ability to pursue digital infrastructure opportunities, although there can be no assurance as to the outcome of a project of Energence Utah's scale.
Energence Utah: A Scalable, Power-Centric Utah Campus
Energence Utah is planned as a 5046-acre multi-use infrastructure campus strategically located between Salt Lake City and Denver. Its master plan includes a 475-acre data campus designed to support up to 1 GW of data center development (expandable to over 1,000-acres), a 200-acre integrated energy center, approximately 1,440 acres planned for solar generation and the balance designated for industrial development.
Key attributes of the Energence Utah site include:
- Gigawatt-scale development plan. The campus is designed around a planned 1 GW+ data center footprint, with additional land for energy and industrial uses and room for phased expansion.
- Active land-use approvals. Conditional-use permits have been issued and are active for the data campus, gas generation, energy storage and solar photovoltaic generation.
- Natural gas supply for on-site generation. An initial commitment for 100,000MMBTU/day has been received, enough capacity for the initial 2-year target, with ongoing negotiations for enough gas supply to support up to 1GW of gas generation, subject to final agreements, engineering and permits. The site also has access to local processed field gas which would benefit the local producers, subject to regulatory approval.
- Supportive Utah development framework. The site lies within the Utah Inland Port Authority's Black Gold Project Area. Utah also offers potential data center tax exemptions and other economic-development incentives, in each case subject to eligibility, negotiation and governmental approval.
- PID infrastructure-financing opportunity. Energence Utah intends to establish one or more Public Infrastructure Districts within the Black Gold Project Area. Subject to required governmental, structural and market approvals, the PID structure could use allocated tax increment to support tax-exempt infrastructure bonds.
- Strategic access and multi-use flexibility. The site has paved access to State Highway 40 and a proposed rail spur, supporting a broader campus strategy that can pair digital infrastructure with power generation and advanced manufacturing.