Examining Energy Today and Tomorrow: Uranium makes resurgence, as wind and solar added to the mix

Editor’s note: This is the second of three-part series on the status of energy production in Wyoming, focusing on Converse County’s diversity in that sector. You can read the first part online at douglas-budget.com The series considers where we are at currently, and offers some forecasts with a big caveat: who really knows what could influence production, good and bad?)  

Uranium has been part of Wyoming’s economy since it was first discovered in the tailings of an abandoned silver mine near Lusk in 1918, according to WyoHistory.org, Wyoming’s Uranium Drama: Risks, Rewards and Remorse, by Chamois L. Andersen and Lori Van Pelt.

“After World War II ended with the explosions of two atom bombs, however, the Cold War began and the U.S. government cornered the domestic uranium supply with a guaranteed price to producers. The industry boomed, and uranium-rich Wyoming benefited,” the authors wrote.

That sector has gone through major upheavals in recent decades, from sky-high prices fueling a boom to plummeting prices forcing many in-situ and open pit mines out of business. The most notable exception has been the Smith Highland operation north of Glenrock; though it has had several different owners and its markets have shifted over the years, it has basically remained in some level of operation in Converse County (except for a period following the price crash in 2018). Owned by Power Resources (a subsidiary of Cameco Resources), the mine has been ramping up slowly in recent years as the price of yellowcake has rebounded, and it has been joined by other companies. 

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the Smith-Highland operation has produced 23 million pounds of uranium, Cameco said.

In its fourth quarter 2025 report to investors, the company said, “In this environment, our disciplined approach to supply in our uranium and fuel services segments remains a cornerstone of our strategy. We continued to align our production with our long‑term contract portfolio, maintaining a deliberate and conservative approach which, based on our decades of experience, we believe to be the prudent position. Combined with our strong balance sheet, and about 230 million pounds of uranium committed under long‑term contracts, we believe we are well positioned to unlock value in a strengthening market.

“We do not manage the business to satisfy short‑term themes in the market, nor do we chase volume for volume’s sake, or plan to bring forward uncommitted supply that risks recreating the overhangs that historically disrupted contracting cycles. Instead, we remain focused on protecting and extending the value of our tier‑one assets and investments, leveraging our integrated capabilities, and preserving the flexibility that allows us to respond to opportunities as the market continues its transition.”

While historically, the Cameco operation has been a stalwart in Converse County and is the largest ISR operation in the Powder River Basin, other players have joined in the uranium production game in Wyoming, with most of that activity in Converse and Campbell counties.

Uranium Energy Corp (UEC), one of the powerhouses behind mining and production of uranium in Converse County, announced March 23 that the company secured state regulatory approval and has commenced operating three additional header houses in Wellfield 11 at the Christensen Ranch. One additional header house is awaiting regulatory approval, the company said, and three more are under construction in Wellfield 12 and 10-extension. 

“The three new header houses and continued wellfield development at Christensen Ranch will result in increased production capacity in Wyoming. In South Texas, the Burke Hollow mine is ready for operations and awaiting final approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that will enable its startup.

“Taken together, the company’s Wyoming and Texas operations, including recent approvals and ongoing construction, are expected to drive significant production expansion,” UEC officials said. 

“With this approval, we have started uranium extraction at the new header houses enabling the planned increase in production volume at our Christensen Ranch operations,” UEC Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations Brent Berg stated. 

Additionally, UEC on April 8 said it has received approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and commenced production at its Burke Hollow project, the world’s newest ISR uranium mine and the first new U.S. ISR operation in over a decade. 

“Combined with recent capacity expansion approvals at Christensen Ranch in Wyoming, UEC continues to scale its U.S. production base and is the only U.S. uranium company with two active producing ISR hub-and-spoke platforms,” company officials said in a press release.

UEC restarted operations at the Christensen Ranch In-Situ Recovery operation in August 2024, according to their website. The Christiensen Ranch, a permitted ISR mining operation, is located in Campbell County north of the Converse line and close to the Johnson County boarder. 

The company’s Irigaray Central Processing Plant (CPP) is the hub to satellite ISR projects across the Powder River Basin, with 11 project areas (spokes), four of which are fully permitted. Key production milestones achieved at Irigaray CPP include first drummed uranium concentrate in February 2025, four million pounds per year of licensed production capacity, S-K 1300 technical report summary filed on Sept. 15, 2022 positioned UEC with the largest S-K 1300 reported uranium resources in the U.S, and 66.2 million pounds of measured and indicated resources with another 15.1 million pounds inferred.

And, other major players in the two counties include American Uranium Corp, which operates the Lo Herma ISR project located approximately 15 miles north of Glenrock; and Energy Fuels, a company which holds interests in the PRB region.

Converse County Commissioner Donald Blackburn, who is watching the industry for the commission, said March 27 that UEC is doing “test drilling for uranium just north of the Tank Farm Road.”

“If it pans out, they will probably look to do some in-situ (mining) out there. They’re supposed to be drilling all the test exploratory holes this summer, then they’ll have a plan if they’re going to (go further),” Blackburn said.

Uranium spot prices range from $84 to $86 per pound as of April 10, likely due to demand.

In Converse County, uranium production in 2025 was valued at $581,933, down significantly from the $954,240 valuation in 2024 but still far above the $124,000 in 2022.

While a far cry of the valuations of oil, natural gas and related industrial sectors in the county, the future outlook given the pressure for more nuclear power plants across the globe could be indicators of a resurgence of the historically importance extraction industry.

WIND & SOLAR

Multiple wind farms are already in place in Converse County, and many more are planned, because as most people know, there’s no lack of wind in this part of Wyoming.

One of the most controversial wind farms proposed is one which was originally part of the Pronghorn H2 hydrogen extraction plant proposed by Acciona and Nordex, and managed by lead developer Paul Martin and his company, Focus Clean Energy.

Residents of Glenrock and Douglas (of those, the most ardently opposed are from Glenrock, as the project is to be located alongside generational ranch lands just outside of the town) repeatedly fought against the wind farm. Originally approved by the State Land Board of Commissioners by all but one commissioner, the SLBC decided after the fact that they would not approve the state land leases they’d previously okayed. (Secretary of State Chuck Grey voted no originally in April and reiterated that vote when the board reconsidered).

The company vowed to fight the reversal in court or through appeals, though they have not filed necessary paperwork as of the end of March.

Meanwhile, the stakeholders recently renamed the project, with the hydrogen extraction plant removed from the plan. The renamed Pronghorn Project is a proposed wind and solar energy development. The project has been updated to focus on wind and solar electricity generation while minimizing its geographic footprint and greatly reducing water use, according to the company website. It is expected to generate 350–365 MW of wind / solar energy.

“​The current project plan reflects the growing need to more quickly bring online new sources of home-grown, low-cost electricity generation, for America and Wyoming to continue to maintain energy dominance … It also incorporates prior adjustments made in response to community concerns, including the removal of wind turbines from areas such as the state-owned Duncan Ranch,” Martin said previously.

The wind and solar farms are slated to remain in the same general location as previously planned, however, the footprint has reduced by 30% to about 16,500 acres, Martin stated.

As of March 29, no paperwork had been received by Converse County Commission about the project, which needs county approval along with state ones.

“No application has thus far been submitted for any projects whatsoever with Pronghorn,” Converse County Commissioner Robert Short confirmed.

While that effort is tied up in the courts and new permits are awaiting decisions, the Converse County landscape is flush with large wind turbines lazily spinning in the sky.

The BrightNight Dutchman Renewable Power Project, a $500 million landmark 499 megawatt (MW) solar facility, was slated to start construction two years ago and come online sometime this year.

However, due to not having buyers locked into place to purchase the electricity they intend to generate, the construction date for the solar project has been pushed to 2027, according to Converse County commissioners and some updates reported in other media last week.

BrightNight received construction and operation permit approvals from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Council (ISC) for the Dutchman Renewable Power Project at the end of 2024.

The solar project is 1.5 miles northeast of Glenrock and 20 miles northwest of Douglas and is located entirely on private land near Rolling Hills, according to company officials.

Another solar farm in the works is the 2,000 acre, 199 megawatt Haystack Solar Project in Natrona County. EG Haystack Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Enfinity Global, owns the proposed project. 

The project, which was rejected by Natrona County in February 2025, held an open house March 23 for landowners at the Ft. Caspar Museum, according to Cowboy State Daily.

In addition to the solar farm is a 100-megawatt battery storage system situated on roughly 2,000 acres of private ranch land northwest of Casper. 

While the project was shot down 12 months ago, the developers are trying again.

Also on the table are wind projects in Niobrara and Platte counties to our east and southeast and Albany and Carbon counties to our south, among others.