Amazon is funding the construction of what could become the largest natural gas power plant in the United States, according to Cleanview, a company tracking environmental concerns related to off-grid data centers. The plant, located in Texas, is intended to supply energy for a massive data center project in Pecos County. Amazon claims this approach avoids straining the grid and raises electricity costs for neighbors, though it did not respond to questions about the environmental backlash surrounding the project. The company stated it believes in paying the full costs of powering its operations through 'new on-site generation' that is designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines allow. Amazon expects its power plant could eventually add energy supply for local customers, making the grid more reliable and affordable. However, critics argue that the plant's emissions, which could exceed those of any other power plant in the country, clash with Amazon’s voluntary commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The company said it remains committed to its Climate Pledge, but its current plan allows the Texas power plant to emit 33 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to The New York Times. Amazon knows its data center plans could obstruct its climate goals, especially as its emissions have been rising. But the company’s bottom line may take precedence over its 2040 deadline. For companies like Amazon, gas-burning plants offer a fast lane to avoid years of delays associated with connecting to the grid and launching data centers quickly to meet rising demand, just as AI becomes more mainstream. Any delay is viewed as money left on the table, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on a July 30 earnings call that demand is particularly exploding for its AI and chips businesses amid the AI boom. Looking forward, Amazon expects supply may lag behind demand well into 2027. Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, suggested the 2040 deadline remains a priority but also noted that 'the world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,' according to The New York Times. Amazon to burn gas while exploring renewables Amazon’s Pecos County plan was first exposed by Cleanview, a company closely tracking environmental concerns with off-the-grid data center developments. At the start of August, Cleanview discovered that the tech giant had filed three construction permits in Texas near the power plant that were 'beginning immediately' and wondered if the projects were linked. Thoroughly documenting the paper trail and taking satellite images, Cleanview got Amazon to confirm its suspicions, then released a report Friday warning that 'Amazon is backing what could be the largest natural gas power plant ever built in the United States.' Specifically, one permit showed the power plant 'would use 35 turbines to generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of power,' Cleanview reported. Although it’s rare for any facility to emit as much as its permits allow, Cleanview is concerned that Amazon’s rush to fulfill Amazon Web Services cloud orders will tempt the company to blast more and more emissions into more areas each year without adequately weighing public harms. On top of the Texas power plant, Amazon is also 'in talks with the developers of a 4.5 GW gas power plant in Homer City, Pennsylvania,' Cleanview reported. That Pennsylvania power plant, Cleanview noted, was supposed to be the largest in the US, but clearly that bragging right wouldn’t have stuck for long. Spiraling demand for AI is now rapidly escalating the size of the power plants, Amazon’s plans suggest. And although one survey of data center developers earlier this year suggested that the majority think the 'ideal energy mix' should predominantly rely on renewables and battery storage that are only complemented by natural gas, nuclear power, and other low-carbon sources, Donald Trump has predictably panned renewable energy while insisting that 'rapidly building more fossil-fuel-burning power plants was essential to America’s AI race with China,' the NYT reported. At least one electric company, El Paso Electric, suggests Trump is right at least in the short-term, telling the NYT that 'renewable generation alone cannot provide the continuous power required at this time' by the biggest data centers. Stoking additional backlash, the president also recently rolled back environmental protections to make it even easier for AI firms to build their own power plants at a time when his Environmental Protection Agency head, Lee Zeldin, has declined to set nationwide standards, Politico reported. Amazon told Ars that it’s exploring the use of solar energy and battery storage at the Texas data center but plans to rely on gas turbines in the meantime. xAI’s head start on gas-powered data centers In a recent report, Cleanview flagged 59 data centers 'with a combined capacity of ~90 GW that plan to build their own power 'behind-the-meter.' That represents about 25 percent of all planned data center projects in the US and suggests that xAI’s Colossus strategy 'has gone from niche to mainstream,' Cleanview said. 'Speed to power is all that developers care about,' Cleanview reported, since 'bringing a data center
Source: arstechnica
