Amazon Texas data center plan ties AI campus to gas plant with high emissions limit
Amazon says its Pecos County AI campus will use on-site power, while reports put the gas plant’s CO2 permit ceiling at 33 million tons a year.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
Amazon Texas data center pollution concerns are growing around a planned AI campus in Pecos County, where the company has confirmed it is financing new on-site power generation. Reporting by The New York Times, cited by TechCrunch, identifies that generation as a natural-gas-fired plant.
The key number is a permit limit, not a prediction: the plant is reported to be authorized to release up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. At that ceiling, it would exceed every other U.S. power plant, TechCrunch reported. A plant does not necessarily run at its permitted maximum, AFP noted.
Amazon says the arrangement is intended to keep the cost of supplying the site off ordinary Texans’ electricity bills. The company said its planned campus will use new on-site generation and is designed to shift to grid-connected service when interconnection timelines allow.
How much pollution could Amazon’s Texas data center produce?
Previously filed permits cited by AFP describe the associated facility, known as GW Ranch and developed by Pacifico Energy, as having 35 turbines and 7.65 gigawatts of generating capacity. AFP reported that Cleanview, a market-intelligence company, used satellite imagery to connect the plant with three Amazon data-center construction permits.
The reported 33-million-ton figure concerns carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change. It should not be treated as a measure of all local air pollution, or as the amount the plant will certainly release each year.
Natural-gas power plants can also produce fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, formaldehyde and benzene, AFP reported. Those pollutants are distinct from carbon dioxide and can affect air quality. AFP also reported that methane can leak upstream in natural-gas operations.
Why is Amazon building power on site?
Amazon said it “believes in paying the full costs” of powering its operations and said the on-site system will not raise electricity costs for Texas families, according to AFP. The company said it is exploring solar power and battery storage at the site, and plans to use non-potable brackish groundwater rather than put pressure on the watershed.
The proposed setup is an example of behind-the-meter generation, in which electricity is made at or close to the customer’s facility instead of first being supplied through the public grid. AFP reported that technology companies are pursuing such projects to get energy-intensive AI operations online faster.
Amazon also said it remains committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 through the Climate Pledge. The project is still planned, and the available reporting does not establish its construction schedule, actual output or eventual annual emissions.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.