A proposed $3.5B data center and power plant project was denied a tax break by Brazoria County commissioners, but it can still move forward.
Nightpeak Energy plans to build two 310-megawatt hyperscale data centers and two 310 MW combustion turbine power plants on a 158-acre site outside of Sweeny, a small city about 65 miles southwest of Houston, according to meeting documents.
Old Ocean Data Center is under development with “an ability to energize beginning in 2027,” according to Nightpeak Energy’s website. The colocated Bulldog Power combustion turbine has been under development since 2023 and targets operation starting in 2028 or earlier, the website states.
The Old Ocean Data Center campus would comprise hyperscale facilities to provide cloud computing, data storage and colocation services to commercial and institutional customers. The project would create several hundred construction jobs and about 30 permanent jobs, and it would come with a total investment of $1.5B for each data center and $250M for each power plant, meeting documents state.
County commissioners voted unanimously to deny four 10-year, 100% tax abatements for the project during a Tuesday meeting, where residents and elected officials cited concerns about noise levels and water and power usage, The Facts newspaper reported.
The proposed project is in Brazoria County’s jurisdiction, but the county has little to no power to stop the project, per the report.
“They’re probably going to do this project. I would bet you money they do this project, and we can’t do a damn thing about it,” Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta said.
Brazoria County Commissioner David Linder said some of his constituents’ lives have been turned upside down by another smaller-scale data center that recently opened in Brazoria, a nearby city.
“It hurts me to know I can’t do a damn thing about it,” Linder said.
Opposition to data center development is rising nationwide as artificial intelligence fuels an unprecedented construction boom. Municipalities, including Denver and Monterey Park, California, have proposed or placed moratoriums on all new data center developments.