Storey County TRIC — Nevada
Storey County (TRIC), Storey County, Nevada
CLEAR PATH
Trajectory: No moratorium proposed or enacted. TRIC Development Agreement (February 2000) continues to govern and restricts county's ability to impose new regulations.
Last updated 2026-03-29
Investment Thesis
TRIC's Development Agreement provides a locked-in regulatory framework since 2000 with pre-approved DC use, 7-day grading permits, and 30-day building permits. Five on-site power plants with 900+ MW.
A Development Agreement locked in since February 2000 — before the iPhone, before cloud computing, before anyone imagined what a hyperscale data center would be. TRIC's I-2 Heavy Industrial zoning pre-approves data centers with 7-day grading permits and 30-day building permits. Seven operators are building or operating here. Tract has assembled 11,000 acres and plans $100 billion over 10 years. The county has 4,000 residents. The power plants produce 900+ MW.
TRIC Development Agreement (2000) pre-approves data centers and restricts the county's ability to impose new regulations, fees, or exactions. This is a 26-year regulatory shield.
7 data center operators are building or operating: Switch (130 MW), Novva (60 MW), Vantage ($3B, 224 MW), EdgeCore (216 MW), PowerHouse (65+ MW), Google (1,200 acres), and Tract (11,000+ acres, $100B planned).
Five on-site power plants deliver 900+ MW. Tract/NV Energy partnership commits 2+ GW beginning 2026. But NV Energy can only add 10-20 MW annually under current conditions — the queue is the bottleneck.
No organized opposition in Storey County. Population: approximately 4,000. Sierra Club targets a Reno facility 20 miles west but has not targeted TRIC.
NRS 360.754 provides 75% property tax abatement and 2% sales/use tax for qualifying data centers. $537M in total statewide DC tax reductions since FY2017.
Inside this score
How the 100 points break down.
Each dimension is scored out of its own weight, and the four add up to the score. A higher score is a clearer market-level path; it is not a likelihood of approval for a parcel.
- Regulatory Riskweight 3027 / 30
What it reads, and where it stops
Measures zoning classification, approval pathway type (by-right, CUP, rezoning), moratorium status, and regulatory trajectory. Higher scores indicate clearer regulatory paths.
Reads the written route and the stated direction of a market's rules as of the edition date. It does not read a particular parcel's zoning, and a rule recorded here can change at the next meeting of the body.
- Infrastructure Readinessweight 2519 / 25
What it reads, and where it stops
Measures utility capacity, grid interconnection availability, water supply adequacy, and infrastructure investment commitments. Higher scores indicate better infrastructure readiness.
Reads the utility, grid, water and investment record for the market. It does not confirm capacity at a given site, and delivery timelines for power and water are separate from entitlement risk.
- Opposition Densityweight 2522 / 25
What it reads, and where it stops
Measures organized opposition groups, petition scale, public hearing attendance, political consequences (elections, recalls), and legal challenges. Higher scores indicate less opposition.
Reads organised opposition that shows on the public record: groups, petitions, hearings, elections and legal challenges. A quiet record is not evidence of support, and a loud one is not a count of votes.
- Approval Timelineweight 2018 / 20
What it reads, and where it stops
Measures historical approval durations, number of sequential approval steps, legal challenges affecting timeline, and demonstrated fast-track capabilities. Higher scores indicate faster approvals.
Reads how long recorded approvals have taken and how many sequential steps they needed. Past duration is a record of what happened, not a schedule for the next application.
27 + 19 + 22 + 18 = 86 of 100 · Clear Path
Dimension Breakdown
How this market scores across four dimensions.
Regulatory Risk
30 pts
TRIC zoned I-2 Heavy Industrial. Development Agreement (February 2000) pre-approves data centers as permitted use and restricts the county's ability to impose new regulations.
Score: 27/30. Pre-approved use under locked-in Development Agreement. 7-day grading permits, 30-day building permits. No CUP required. Score does not reach 30 because height variances above 120 feet still require Planning Commission review.
Infrastructure Readiness
25 pts
Five on-site power plants delivering 900+ MW. Tract/NV Energy partnership commits 2+ GW beginning 2025. Dedicated substations (Novva 100 MW on-site). NV Energy constraint: only 10-20 MW additional power annually under current infrastructure.
Score: 19/25. Five on-site power plants, 900+ MW, dedicated substations. But NV Energy's CEO has acknowledged demand could "quadruple" the regional grid. 5,900 MW requested against 2,100 MW peak — the utility cannot serve all load simultaneously.
Opposition Density
25 pts
No organized opposition in Storey County/TRIC. Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter targeted a Reno city DC (~20 miles west) but has not targeted TRIC operations.
Score: 22/25. No organized opposition found. TRIC's geographic isolation and 4,000-person county reduce NIMBY risk. Sierra Club advocacy is directed at the state legislature, not Storey County.
Approval Timeline
20 pts
Most industrial uses proceed directly to architectural review and building permits. 7-day grading permits, 30-day building permits. No public hearing required.
Score: 18/20. Grading permits in 7 days, building permits in 30 days. No public hearing required. Novva went from announcement to operational in 26 months including full construction. The bottleneck is power delivery, not permitting.
Key Findings
What the evidence supports.
TRIC Development Agreement (February 2000) pre-approves data centers and restricts new regulations.
TRIC Project OverviewTract/NV Energy partnership commits 2+ GW of power delivery beginning 2025.
Tract/NV Energy press releaseTract has assembled 11,000+ acres with planned $100B investment over 10 years.
NNBWIncentives & Programs
Why developers are choosing here.
NRS 360.754 — partial abatement of personal property taxes (up to 75%) and sales/use tax reduction to 2%
Available to qualifying data centers. From FY2017-2025, $537M in gross reduction of local government sales and use taxes from DC abatements statewide.
SourceDates on the record
Dates on the record.
As of the 29 Mar 2026 edition
No date after the 29 Mar 2026 edition is on the record for Storey County (TRIC).
Only dates that this market's own timeline gives. No outcome is named.
Known Risks
No market is risk-free. Here's what to watch.
The credibility of a favorable score depends on honest risk disclosure. These risks are documented in public records.
NV Energy can only add 10-20 MW annually under current infrastructure
Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter advocates for statewide DC regulation (targeting Reno, not TRIC)
Recommendation
CLEAR PATH — Score 86/100
Favorable market. TRIC's Development Agreement is among the strongest regulatory shields documented in any U.S. market.
From the record
What the public record holds for Storey County (TRIC).
No verified case file or Jurisdiction Data note is tied to this market yet. The score stands on the sources cited on this page.
Sector page: Data centers
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