From KCBD-11 TV Lubbock, TX,
Texas approves ‘largest permitted data center campus’ in the U.S.:
Pacifico Energy received its air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 7.65 GW of gas-fired power generation.
To put this into context, 7.65 GW (gigawatts) is equal to 7,650 megawatts. This natural-gas-fired power plant complex would have enough generating capacity to power all of metro Miami, and would represent more than seven times the generating capacity of the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant in Minnesota.
For what purpose? Data centers. Just data centers. KCBD reports,
West Texas will soon be home to the GW Ranch, an enormous planned complex of gas power plants and data centers near the oil fields of the Permian basin.
According to the project’s developers, Pacifico Energy, it is the largest permitted data center campus in the United States.
As far as I can tell, the project is not associated with any electric utility, so its closed grid will not impact any electricity consumers. It will draw its natural gas supply from nearby wells.
From the company itself,
As electricity prices rise nationwide and large data center loads place growing pressure on regional grids, the energy company says its development philosophy is intentionally designed to protect ratepayers.
How about that.
