Amazon is building a massive artificial intelligence data center in Texas and plans to power it not from the existing electrical grid but from a natural gas power plant built directly beside the facility, according to a report by The New York Times.
The project will use 35 natural gas turbines and will be able to generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity, a capacity the report says reflects the enormous energy demands of AI-focused data centers, which rely on thousands of GPUs alongside constant cooling, networking and storage systems.
Emissions could reach 33 million tons a year
Documents obtained by The New York Times show the plant has been authorized to emit up to 33 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. If that scenario plays out, the plant powering Amazon's data center could produce more annual carbon emissions than any other power plant in the United States.
Behind Amazon's move to natural gas lies an infrastructure problem. Electricity demand from AI data centers in the United States is rising so fast that existing power grids are struggling to keep up, and bureaucratic delays make connecting new data centers to the grid a lengthy process.
Companies turn to "behind-the-meter" power
Rather than wait for new transmission lines, transformers and other infrastructure to be completed, companies are increasingly turning to what is known as "behind-the-meter" power generation, systems connected directly to the data center. Natural gas plants stand out because they can produce large amounts of electricity continuously and can be brought online faster than renewable energy sources. Microsoft and Meta, facing similar power problems, have instead turned to nuclear and renewable energy projects.
Amazon's decision stands in contrast to its own climate commitments. In 2019, the company pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its global operations by 2040. As its investments in artificial intelligence have accelerated, that pledge appears to have been left behind.
