.webp?t=1763376409)
Chevron Corp. has selected West Texas as the positioning for its first power-generation facility aimed to beef up an artificial-intelligence knowledge middle, marking an important pivot by means of the oil large.
Chevron unveiled the plan for the preliminary 2.5-GW plant at a Nov. 12 investor day convention as a part of a 5‑yr technique that strikes the corporate past its conventional function as a gas provider into direct electrical energy era. The plant may make bigger to 5GW at a long run level, the corporate mentioned.
The herbal gas-fired facility situated within the Permian Basin marks Chevron’s first transfer into powering AI workloads. This trade style permits the corporate to avoid the regional grid and provide power without delay to an information middle operator at a co-located website. Chevron mentioned that operations are scheduled to start out in 2027.
The corporate didn’t supply an replace at the particular website and mentioned it’s in unique negotiations with an unnamed operator. Additional information about this partnership have now not been disclosed, nor had been main points on contractor variety.
Chevron New Energies is main construction of the West Texas knowledge‑middle persistent facility. The department mentioned it’s drawing at the corporate’s herbal gasoline manufacturing and running revel in to lend a hand meet the knowledge middle persistent wishes.
Department President Jeff Gustavson mentioned the Permian Basin website builds on Chevron’s present gasoline manufacturing community, giving the undertaking a aggressive edge. “Within the Permian, we grasp a novel knowledge merit via our hobby in
one out of each 5 wells, and we are development AI‑pushed gear to
unencumber that doable,” Gustavson mentioned.
The power will function in a “at the back of‑the‑meter” setup, supplying electrical energy without delay to an information middle somewhat than during the regional grid, in line with Gustavson. Framing the undertaking as each an exterior alternative and an inside shift, he added: “We’re now not simply operating to persistent the AI revolution—we’re making use of it throughout our personal trade to create further price.”
The announcement follows Chevron’s February 2025 partnership with gasoline engineer manufacturer GE Vernova and funding company Engine No. 1 to expand as much as 4 herbal gasoline‑fired crops for U.S. knowledge facilities. This system will use GE Vernova 7HA gasoline generators put in along knowledge‑middle websites at past Texas websites that weren’t recognized.
However the Institute for Power Economics and Monetary Research, in a contemporary research of forecasted knowledge middle persistent load expansion for some Southeast utilities, projected a chance of overbuilding gasoline infrastructure if forecasted knowledge middle call for falls quick.
