Amazon acquires 8,000 acres in Pecos for gas-powered data center

Amazon has acquired an 8,000-acre site in Pecos County, Texas, for a planned data center campus that would be powered by new on-site natural gas generation, according to the company and reporting cited in the original report.

The land, known as the GW Ranch site in Pecos, Texas, was acquired from Pacifico Energy, according to reporting from Cleanview. The original report said Amazon intends to develop a behind-the-meter powered data center there.

Permits show the associated gas plant would include 35 turbines with up to 7.65GW of power capacity. Pacifico had obtained a 7.65GW air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the report said.

Amazon was linked to the site earlier in the month when it filed three construction permits with the state outlining plans for three data center buildings, with construction expected to start immediately. After those reports, the company confirmed it had acquired the GW Ranch site and planned to purchase generation from the site.

"Amazon believes in paying the full costs of powering our operations", a spokesperson said in a statement. "Our new planned data center campus in Pecos County does just that: it’s powered by new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families and designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines allow."

Amazon also issued a longer statement on the project: "Amazon believes in paying the full costs of powering our operations. Our new planned data center campus in Pecos County does just that: It's powered by new on-site generation that won't raise electricity costs for Texas families and is designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines allow. We're also exploring opportunities for solar energy and battery storage on site. To ensure we don't put stress on the local watershed, we'll use water that isn't suitable for drinking or irrigation, custom cooling technology that minimizes water use wherever possible, and we'll explore the beneficial use of produced water as an additional non-potable source. This new data center campus in Pecos County is a long-term commitment that we expect will create thousands of new jobs", Amazon said in a statement.

The off-grid power project was announced last year and is expected to be located on an 8,000+ acre plot in Pecos County. According to the original report, the development is expected to combine natural gas generation with 1.8GW of battery storage and 750MW of solar as a standalone energy platform for multi-phase data center deployments.

The deal follows what the original report described as a growing trend of hyperscalers turning to natural gas for large-scale AI data center developments. It also noted that, last week, Amazon was reported to be exploring development of a data center at a natural gas plant outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before that, Microsoft announced plans for a 2GW development in Pecos, Texas, powered by a 2.67GW natural gas plant.

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