LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) –
West Texas will soon be home to the GW Ranch, an enormous planned complex of gas power plants and data centers near the oil fields of the Permian basin.
According to the project’s developers, Pacifico Energy, it is the largest permitted data center campus in the United States.
Pacifico Energy got the go-ahead this month from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
This more than 8-thousand-acre campus will be located in Pecos County, about 17 miles north of Fort Stockton.
The commission approved its air permit of up to 7.65 GW of gas-fired power generation, using a mix of small and large-scale gas turbines.
As electricity prices rise nationwide and large data center loads place growing pressure on regional grids, the energy company says its development philosophy is intentionally designed to protect ratepayers.
Its private grid uses natural gas turbines, solar, and battery storage, enabling rapid AI and digital infrastructure growth without impacting the electricity grid or increasing energy costs for Texans.
“Receiving TCEQ approval for the largest power project in the United States is a defining milestone for GW Ranch, and clears a critical path for delivering power at a scale the market urgently needs,” said Constantyn Gieskes, Vice President of Project Development at Pacifico Energy.
The company expects its GW Ranch will provide customers with power in the first half of 2027, with a guaranteed pathway to scale to over 5 GW.
Pacifico Energy says it expects this project to create thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of permanent high-paying jobs, and substantial tax revenues.
Pacifico is calling the GW Ranch the ‘next wave of a-I innovation.’
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