Creekstone Energy has developed a patent-pending revolutionary technology that turns natural gas from Wyoming into new water in Utah. The new process, named GIGAWATER, is the centerpiece of the company’s Project Oasis initiative at the Delta Gigasite. It captures water vapor from the exhaust of Creekstone’s own natural-gas-powered electricity generation and converts it into usable water.

To confirm the science holds at scale, Creekstone has signed a formal research agreement with the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI) to independently verify the technology.

Utah has been in drought for more than two decades. The state recorded its lowest snowpack on record in 2026. Governor Spencer Cox has declared a statewide drought emergency. Every new project that touches Utah’s water deserves scrutiny; GIGAWATER was built to withstand it.

“Building a data center in a state experiencing prolonged drought means water stewardship must be a top priority from the outset,” said Ray Conley, founder and CEO of Creekstone Energy. “The principle behind GIGAWATER is elegantly simple: just as a car’s exhaust releases water as a byproduct of combustion, we are applying that same chemistry at an industrial scale. We bring in natural gas and, rather than relying solely on local resources, we generate a new water supply.”

The Science: Turning Exhaust Into Water

When natural gas is burned to generate power, the exhaust it produces contains water vapor. GIGAWATER captures that exhaust, cools it through a regenerative rock-bed system, and converts the vapor into usable water, collected on site. It doesn’t drain Utah’s water supply. It adds to it.

See downloadable video of GIGAWATER process

Creekstone’s engineering analysis projects a yield of approximately 4,000 acre-feet of water per year. One acre-foot fills a football field one foot deep. Stack 4,000 of those and the column stands nearly ten times the height of Utah’s tallest building.

That volume exceeds what the Delta Gigasite itself will ever consume. The facility won’t just be water-neutral, it will be water-positive. The recovered water has real-world applications: irrigation and agriculture, geothermal energy cycles, and, after filtration, potentially as a potable source.

Conley, an MIT trained scientist, developed the underlying model himself.

“We built the math. We built the model. Now we’re bringing in the best independent scientific minds in the state to prove out the technology,” said Conley.

Why the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute?

Creekstone has fully executed a formal research agreement to independently verify the model and test whether it can be proven at scale. The project will be led by Dr. Milind Deo as principal investigator. EGI’s work will proceed in two phases. Phase 1 focuses on rigorous model verification, evaluating the chemistry, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and carbon dioxide mineralization assumptions at the heart of GIGAWATER. Phase 2 moves to the conceptual design of an experimental pilot facility capable of testing the system’s core findings under controlled conditions.

“The science behind Project Oasis is promising,” said Dr. Deo. “EGI is committed to rigorous, independent verification, moving from theory and math through computer modeling and, ultimately, to physical demonstration. If the results bear out, this could change the way the data center industry thinks about water.”

EGI brings unmatched credibility to this effort. The Institute maintains a research portfolio valued at more than $850 million. Its work spans geothermal development, carbon capture and storage, and subsurface science, in collaboration with global industrial, academic, and government partners.

A New Standard for How Data Centers Should Be Built

Project Oasis is the latest demonstration of Creekstone’s belief that the data center industry and the communities that host it don’t have to choose between economic growth and environmental stewardship. From the beginning, Creekstone has pursued a different model built on transparency, local partnership, and a genuine commitment to protecting the resources that make Utah what it is.

“Utah has been working to make sure data centers are accountable for how they use our water; it’s why I sponsored legislation last session to bring greater transparency to that reporting,” said Rep. Jill Koford, Utah House of Representatives. “What Creekstone is doing with Project Oasis goes well beyond compliance. This is exactly what it looks like when Utah businesses, our universities, and state leaders work together to meet a challenge head-on. I hope it sets the standard for how the entire industry operates.”

“We built GIGAWATER because we don’t think Utah should have to choose between hosting this industry and protecting its water,” Conley said. “We hope it becomes the model for how data centers are built across every arid climate where water is precious.”

About Creekstone Energy

Creekstone Energy is developing the Delta Gigasite, a world-class energy and data infrastructure project located near Delta, Utah, approximately 11 miles south of the Intermountain Power Plant. Creekstone is committed to building infrastructure that strengthens Utah’s economy, energy independence, and natural resource stewardship for generations to come. See full Creekstone Energy media kit here.

About the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute

The Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI) at the University of Utah is a leading applied research organization with deep expertise in energy systems, geothermal development, and subsurface science. EGI has a track record of developing technologies that have grown into hundreds of millions of dollars in real-world projects.

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