Texas Projects Combine Natural Gas, Renewables, and AI for Next-Gen Data Centers
Data center power developer Titus Low Carbon Ventures is contracting for up to 673 MW of natural gas-fired generation capacity to supply its planned data center parks in Texas.
The agreement with AB Energy is centered around the latter’s delivery of up to 202 Ecomax 33 reciprocating power generation units, powered by Jenbacher J620 engines. Titus’ power-park model plans to co-locate behind-the-meter thermal generation with utility-scale solar, wind, battery storage and high-voltage grid interconnect.
Titus and AB Energy hope to commission the first 400 MW by the end of 2027, with the rest operational a year later. The companies contend the multi-resource approach can reduce emissions and energy costs.
"Time‑to‑power wins in this new era," Jeff Ferguson, president of Titus, said in a statement. "Partnering with Gruppo AB gives Titus a thermal generation solution that delivers firm flexible power and— when deployed at our renewable sites—a clear pathway to the cleanest, lowest power cost data center campuses in the U.S."
Titus is in discussions with potential tenants regarding the Titus data center sites, with subsequent supply tranches expected to align with multi-campus tenant commitments. PEI Global Partners is the sole financial advisor to Titus to provide strategic support on capital raising initiatives.
Numerous co-located data center and power projects similar to Titus’ are under development in Texas. Politically connected startup Fermi America is partnering with Texas Tech University on ambitious plans to build an $11 billion connected natural gas and artificial intelligence (AI) data center campus in Amarillo.
Fermi America, which includes among its founders former Texas Governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, is touting its plan of an “Amarillo HyperGrid” as the next generation in on-site power development to meet growing AI and cloud-based data center demand. The first phase will bring in six Siemens Energy SGT800 gas-fired turbines and one SST600 steam turbine to deliver about 478 MW of co-located and combined heat and power for the proposed AI campus in the Texas Panhandle.
New Era Helium, an exploration and production company sourcing helium produced in association with natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin, announced a joint venture with computing business Sharon AI on the Texas Critical Data Centers project, aimed at building a 250-MW net-zero data center with the gas-rich Permian region.
Data centers and the race to dominate artificial intelligence implementation are intertwined with a need for more utility-scale and distributed energy resources to meet electricity demand in the next decade. Read our full coverage of that moving dynamic at EnergyTech and at Microgrid Knowledge.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.