Two Fossil Fuel Companies Are Betting Big on Data Centers
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- Williams is constructing six behind-the-meter gas plants for data centers, including four serving Meta facilities in Ohio, and announced over $5 billion in data-center investments in mid-July with KKR
- Chevron confirmed a 20-year power purchase agreement in June for a 2.67-gigawatt gas plant powering a Microsoft data center in Texas, calling it the only multi-gigawatt project with such a long-term contract
- Five of the seven data-center-connected gas plants highlighted by Williams and Chevron could emit up to 21 million tons of greenhouse gases per year — roughly on par with Guatemala's annual emissions
- Williams' four permit-filed plants could emit up to 9.6 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, equivalent to emissions from more than 22 average natural gas plants per EPA data
- Chevron's Microsoft-serving plant could produce more than 11.5 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions per year according to its permit
- Williams is building a 9-mile natural gas pipeline across an Ohio suburb, with president Chad Zamarin saying the company "overbuilt the capacity" to serve as "an energy artery along which other projects could be developed"
- BloombergNEF projects US natural gas production must rise 36% by the mid-2030s to meet demand driven partly by data centers
Why it matters: Williams and Chevron are locking in fossil fuel infrastructure for 10 to 20 years — the Chevron-Microsoft deal alone runs two decades — just as rising utility bills fuel public backlash against data centers. Chevron's New Energies president called the Microsoft deal "a repeatable model" and confirmed talks with new customers, while the source flags whether these plants stay private or connect to the grid after 2030 as "a massive question for the future of power prices in the country."
