Amazon reportedly bankrolls giant Texas gas plant to power off-grid AI data center

Amazon is reportedly financing a 7.65-gigawatt natural-gas power plant in West Texas to power its first off-grid AI data center campus. The arrangement would create one of the largest single sources of greenhouse-gas emissions in the country.

The plant, developed by Pacifico Energy and called GW Ranch, would sit in Pecos County and run on 35 gas turbines. Under its air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, it could emit more than 30 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year — more than any other single source in the US.

The project shows how far AI operators will go to secure power away from the strained electric grid. Building generation on-site lets Amazon skip years-long interconnection queues, at a steep environmental cost. Three Amazon data-center construction permits have been linked to the gas plant through satellite imagery, according to market-intelligence firm Cleanview.

Amazon said it is exploring solar and battery storage at the site and that it “believes in paying the full costs of powering our operations.” First power is targeted for around the first quarter of 2027.

The move is not unique. A competing 9.2-gigawatt gas facility involving SoftBank is planned in Ohio, part of a broader turn toward dedicated fossil-fuel generation for AI compute as demand outpaces available grid capacity.

The emissions figure reflects the permit’s maximum allowance rather than expected output, and Amazon has not confirmed the plant’s financing terms or its final capacity. Neither Amazon nor Pacifico Energy has published a formal announcement of the project.

The scale of GW Ranch sharpens a widening tension: hyperscalers have pledged deep carbon cuts even as the power appetite of AI pushes them toward new gas.