What are the annual permitted greenhouse gas emissions for the Texas plant?

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The Texas Plant's Permitted Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Pecos County, Texas, gas power plant being financed by Amazon is permitted to emit over 30 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. This figure represents the highest permitted emission level for any single source within the United States.
Scale of the Facility

The GW Ranch facility, developed by Pacifico Energy, is designed to be substantial, featuring 35 turbines with a projected generation capacity of 7.65 gigawatts. This capacity exceeds that of any gas plant currently operational in the US. For comparison, a planned 9.2-gigawatt plant in Ohio, part of a public-private partnership involving SoftBank, is intended to connect to the broader electricity grid while also powering a data center.
Amazon's Rationale for On-Site Generation

Amazon stated its intention to fund this on-site generation to avoid passing the costs of new infrastructure, necessitated by the increasing demand from AI operations, onto consumers. A company spokesperson emphasized that the new data center campus in Pecos County would bear the full cost of its power through new on-site generation, thereby preventing an increase in electricity costs for Texas families. The facility is designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines permit.
Broader Industry Trend and Potential Impact

The development of "behind-the-meter" power generation, where companies produce their own electricity, has been a growing practice. Elon Musk's xAI, for instance, deployed mobile gas turbines to its Memphis data center in 2024. Current estimates suggest approximately 97 gigawatts of such projects are planned by major technology companies, including Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle. If all these projects are realized, the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions could exceed 200 million tons annually, a figure comparable to the annual emissions of over 45 million cars.

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What are the annual permitted greenhouse gas emissions for the Texas plant?

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