Symbolic imageAmazon funds private Texas gas plant for its data centres
Amazon has confirmed it is financing a private gas-fired power plant in Texas to run its data centres. The plant could become the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
What happened
- Market intelligence firm Cleanview first reported the link on Saturday, 8 August, using satellite imagery and permit filings.
- Cleanview tied three Amazon data centre construction permits filed this week to the plant, developed by Pacifico Energy.
- The project, known as GW Ranch, would have 35 turbines and generate 7.65 gigawatts, per earlier permits.
- That is larger than any gas plant currently operating in the United States.
- Permits would allow the site to emit over 30 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.
The view from outside
The only detailed account comes from AFP, carried by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, which places the project in a wider pattern of tech companies going off the grid to bring AI capacity online faster. It notes a bigger facility, at 9.2 gigawatts, is planned in Ohio under a public-private partnership involving SoftBank.
What could happen next
- Amazon has not disclosed a start date, a cost, or how much of the 7.65 gigawatts its data centres would draw.
- The permit figure is an allowance; actual emissions from the 35 turbines are not public.
- Unlike the off-grid Texas site, the Ohio plant would connect to the grid as well as power a data centre.