A new data center funded by Google will be powered by a massive gas plant

“Grid growth cannot match the demand for AI, so a practical ‘all of the above’ strategy is essential — with gas being a critical bridge,” Colly Cavness, co-founder and president of Crusoe, told WIRED in a statement. “This is not the destination; it is the foundation on which we build as we invest in batteries, solar, wind and small nuclear reactors. We are not waiting for a carbon-neutral grid – we are building the path towards it.”

Other technology companies are openly embracing new gas construction processes. Microsoft this week signed a deal with oil giant Chevron to supply up to 2.5 gigawatts of gas power to a data center in West Texas.

For his part, Thomas sees behind-the-meter power potentially becoming a key energy strategy for data center developers.

“It’s important to note how new this is,” he says. “This wasn’t something any company was doing even a year or so ago, and now it’s very popular. The speed is much better than waiting on the network.”

Since the start of the AI ​​arms race, big tech companies that previously subscribed to stringent climate targets have acknowledged their decline, as they increasingly build power-hungry data centers. Although total emissions have increased by nearly 50 percent over the past five years, Google claimed in its sustainability report last year that it had reduced its data center emissions by 12 percent. The company has publicly announced its commitment to renewable energy. In addition to the Armstrong campus, Google’s investment in Texas includes a data center in Haskell County that will be located, according to a company press release, “along with a new solar and battery storage plant.” Google is also building a number of large renewable energy projects, as Thomas discovered in a recent report.

With a responsible administration that favors building data centers, disdains greenhouse gas reporting policies, and promotes American natural gas, it seems likely that behind-the-meter gas power will develop despite the significant emissions cost. In March, the White House invited executives from seven major technology companies, including Google, to sign a non-binding agreement to protect taxpayers, including a pledge to “build, acquire, or purchase new generation resources and electricity needed to meet their new energy needs.” Experts told WIRED that the agreement was mostly symbolic, as neither data center developers nor the White House have much control over policies that would lower electricity bills.

However, some lawmakers are questioning big tech companies about the climate impacts of their data center projects. Just a few days after the event at the White House, three Democratic senators sent letters to a number of AI companies and data center developers, including xAI, OpenAI, and Meta, expressing concern about specific large-scale data center projects and their potential impact on the environment and climate. (The lawmakers did not send a letter to Google, but they did send one to Crusoe asking about an unrelated project.) Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico asked executives from these companies to answer several questions about the planned data centers, including why they decided to run the data centers on natural gas instead of renewable energy sources.

“It is well established that climate disruption and huge economic impacts will result if we fail

“Limit global temperature increase to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” the senators wrote in their letter to technology executives, outlining the need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve that goal. “I would ask you to explain how your actions are consistent with this goal, and if not, why you do not think this is important.”