Amazon is investing in a natural gas power plant for a data center in Texas
Amazon is investing in the construction of a natural gas power plant in Pecos County, Texas, which is intended to supply electricity to the company’s new data center. According to The Verge, citing The New York Times, the facility will not be connected to the state’s power grid during the initial phase.
The planned GW Ranch power plant is set to feature 35 natural gas turbines and generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity. Most of this capacity is planned to be directed to Amazon’s data center in West Texas.
For more breaking news, follow the UA.News Telegram channel.
According to Cleanview, which tracks data centers and related energy projects, the state of Texas has granted GW Ranch a permit to emit up to 33 million metric tons of CO2. That’s more than the emissions of the largest coal-fired power plant in the U.S., notes The Verge. At the same time, power plants do not always emit greenhouse gases at the levels specified in their permits.
Amazon has confirmed that it has acquired the site and plans to purchase electricity from GW Ranch. Meta, Google, and other tech companies have also begun building their own power plants or turning to natural gas, coal, and other non-renewable energy sources due to the growing energy demands of data centers for artificial intelligence systems.
