Amazon's Texas Data Center to Get One of the Dirtiest Power Sources in the U.S.

Amazon is investing in the construction of a new power plant that could become one of the largest single sources of greenhouse gases in the U.S. According to The New York Times, the plant is needed to supply power to a new data center in West Texas.

The GW Ranch gas facility is located in Pecos County. At least in its first phase, it will not be connected to the state grid: its 35 gas turbines, with a combined capacity of 7.65 gigawatts, are intended primarily to power the data center itself. Amazon confirmed that it has bought the site and intends to purchase electricity from GW Ranch.

A Permit for 33 Million Tons

According to Cleanview, a service that tracks data centers and the energy projects tied to them, the plant received a permit from Texas authorities to emit up to 33 million tons of CO2 — more than the country's largest coal-fired power plant. In practice, plants rarely emit as much as their permits allow, but the sheer laxity of the limits is telling in itself.

Amazon is not alone here. Meta, Google and other companies have begun building their own power plants, turning to gas, coal and other nonrenewable sources as data centers' appetites for AI grow at a breakneck pace. The Trump administration, for its part, is seeking to lift restrictions on such polluting plants.

A Blow to Climate Pledges

Even if GW Ranch emits only a fraction of the permitted amount, it would mark a notable retreat from Amazon's climate commitments. Jeff Bezos promised to make the company carbon-neutral by 2040, yet because of the load created by AI, Amazon's emissions have been rising for several years running.

Company spokesperson Margaret Callahan told the publication that “the world now looks different than it did when we became one of the initiators of the climate pledge,” while adding that “our commitment has not changed.” Judging by the numbers in the permit, that commitment and reality are diverging ever more visibly.

Source: The Verge