A data center campus of up to 5GW that utilizes its own behind-the-meter power supply is being pitched for 50,000 acres of land in Texas.
Energy Abundance Development Corporation has unveiled the project, Data City, which could be built near the city of Laredo in southwest Texas, near the border with Mexico.
Should it happen, the data center will be built in phases, with the first 300MW and 1 million sq ft (92,903 sqm) of space set to launch in 2026. The company has not put a timescale on when it expects to reach the full 5GW build-out.
It is claimed the facility will run on clean energy, eventually hydrogen power from another Energy Abundance Development Corporation project, Hydrogen City, which is being planned on an adjacent site. The first phase of this project is not set to come online until 2028.
Hydrogen is seen by many as a promising source of clean energy for data centers, but is at present expensive and difficult to procure.
In the meantime, Data City will utilize some behind-the-meter renewable energy - wind and solar power - as well as natural gas, a fossil fuel-based energy source.
"Data City is a world-class infrastructure project, pioneering a new behind-the-meter approach," said Brian Maxwell, founder and CEO of Energy Abundance. "It will help America win the AI race while demonstrating how to achieve 24/7 green power with hydrogen and salt cavern storage. Data City surpasses all others in size, sustainability, and cost-efficiency— we believe it will be the birthplace of AGI.”
He added: "Building behind-the-meter is the path to energy abundance—a cornerstone of this landmark project. It's an honor to lead a quintessentially American and Texan endeavor that will power the AI revolution and pave the way to an energy-abundant future."
Energy Abundance recently rebranded from its old identity, Green Hydrogen International, and says its management team has extensive experience in large-scale global energy development and behind-the-meter project engineering, having developed, built, and financed over 3GW of power projects globally.
"Many of these new data centers will require new power-dense racking and direct-to-chip liquid cooling designs, making off-grid, high-output new-build infrastructure like Data City vital for winning the AI race," said former McKinsey senior partner and Energy Abundance board member Andy Steinhubl.
