Amazon has confirmed that it acquired a site in Pecos County, Texas, where it plans to build an artificial intelligence data center campus powered by a dedicated natural gas plant. The facility, known as GW Ranch, would host 35 gas turbines capable of generating up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity,enough to make it one of the largest privately developed gas plants in the United States, according to reporting by The New York Times and industry tracker Cleanview.
News Summary
- Amazon confirmed it acquired the GW Ranch site in Pecos County, Texas, for a new AI data center campus.
- The campus would be powered by a 7.65-gigawatt natural gas plant with 35 turbines, developed by Pacifico Energy.
- A Texas air permit authorizes the plant to emit up to 33 million tons of CO2 annually, though actual emissions typically fall below permitted ceilings.
- Amazon said the project is its first major off-grid data center and will not draw from the Texas grid initially.
- The company’s absolute emissions rose 16 percent in 2025, and indirect emissions from purchased electricity increased 34 percent.
- Amazon maintains it remains committed to its 2040 net-zero goal under The Climate Pledge.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued an air permit in January that authorizes the plant to emit up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. If the facility were to reach that ceiling, it would exceed the emissions of the country’s largest existing coal plant. Power plants, however, rarely emit at their permitted maximums, and actual output would depend on operational capacity and runtime.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan told The New York Times that the company remains committed to its Climate Pledge goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. “The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” Callahan said, adding that “our commitment hasn’t changed.” Amazon co-founded the pledge in 2019 alongside Global Optimism and has repeatedly stated its intention to decarbonize its operations over the next decade and a half.
The company’s recent sustainability report, published in June, shows that path becoming steeper. Amazon’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions rose 16 percent in 2025 to approximately 80.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, while indirect emissions from purchased electricity increased 34 percent. The company attributed the jump to data center expansion, delivery fleet electrification, and building electrification.
In a statement provided to The Verge and other outlets, Amazon said the Pecos County campus “is powered by new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families and is designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines allow.” The company also said it is exploring up to 750 megawatts of on-site solar generation and 1.8 gigawatts of battery storage, and that it will use non-potable water for cooling to avoid stressing local supplies.
The project represents a notable shift for Amazon. Cleanview reported that the company has historically relied on traditional electric grids to power its data centers, making GW Ranch its first major investment in an off-grid facility. The move reflects a broader industry trend: as AI computing demand surges, hyperscalers including Meta, Google, and Microsoft are increasingly turning to dedicated on-site power generation to bypass utility interconnection queues that can delay projects by years.
Construction activity has already begun. Cleanview reported that Amazon filed three construction permits for data center buildings at the site, and satellite imagery reviewed by the outlet showed land clearing underway. Pacifico Energy is developing the power plant, and Amazon plans to purchase electricity directly from the facility rather than drawing from the Texas grid, at least initially. The company told Chron that it expects the campus to create thousands of jobs.
The scale of the permitted emissions has drawn comparisons to national carbon footprints. At 33 million tons of CO2, the plant’s authorized annual ceiling approaches the total territorial emissions of Switzerland, which emitted 32.1 million tons in 2024, according to Our World in Data. It also falls within the range of Bulgaria’s annual CO2 output. Such comparisons illustrate the outsized environmental footprint that a single industrial facility can carry when permitted at this scale.
Amazon is not alone in pursuing fossil-fuel-powered data centers in Texas. In June, Chevron signed a 20-year agreement to supply natural gas to a Microsoft data center project roughly 30 miles west of GW Ranch, according to Chron. The state has become a focal point for AI infrastructure investment, though Governor Greg Abbott recently directed regulators to halt approvals for certain large-load projects until utilities complete required audits.
The tension between Amazon’s AI expansion and its climate goals is not new, but the Pecos County project sharpens it. Since co-founding The Climate Pledge in 2019, Amazon has matched 100 percent of its global electricity consumption with renewable energy for three consecutive years, according to its sustainability website. Yet absolute emissions have climbed 58 percent since the pledge was announced, driven largely by supply chain and infrastructure growth.
Amazon is also exploring additional gas-powered projects. Cleanview reported that the company is in talks with developers of a 4.5-gigawatt gas power plant in Homer City, Pennsylvania. Together, these investments signal that Amazon is prioritizing rapid infrastructure deployment over immediate emissions reductions, even as it maintains its long-term net-zero target.
Whether the GW Ranch plant ever emits at its permitted ceiling remains uncertain. What is clear is that Amazon’s AI ambitions are driving the company toward energy sources that stand in tension with its public climate commitments, even as it insists that growth and sustainability can coexist.