Google Tied to 933MW Texas Gas Plant for AI
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- Crusoe Energy filed a permit in January to build the 933MW off-grid gas plant on Google's 'Goodnight' datacenter campus in Armstrong County, and satellite images show construction is well underway, per research group Cleanview.
- The 933MW Texas gas plant could emit up to 4.5 million tons of CO2 per year — more than the roughly 4 million tons emitted annually by the entire city of San Francisco, according to Crusoe's 465-page permit application.
- Google is the third gas facility the company has engaged with in months, following an October agreement to buy power from an Illinois gas plant and documents obtained by Flatwater Free Press showing a major Nebraska gas project under exploration.
- Google's emissions rose 48% from 2019 to 2024 due to datacenter energy consumption, and the company has stopped speaking in terms of a 2030 net-zero goal, instead rebranding its targets as 'ambition-based' 'climate moonshots.'
- Google spokesperson Chrissy Moy did not deny the Texas project, telling the Guardian 'We don't have a contract in place for the plant in Texas' while pointing to a separate wind partnership with utility Serena Energy in the region.
- Cleanview founder Michael Thomas called the deal 'one of the first direct investments in fossil fuel infrastructure' he's seen from Google, arguing the projects suggest 'a major strategic pivot at the company could be under way.'
- Google's head of advanced energy, Michael Terrell, declined to explain how natural gas aligns with the company's clean-energy strategy when asked by Axios, saying simply: 'We don't have anything to say on that.'
Why it matters: Google's emissions rose 48% from 2019 to 2024 as it dropped concrete 2030 carbon-neutral goals for 'climate moonshots.' A 933MW Texas gas plant emitting 4.5 million tons of CO2 yearly — more than all of San Francisco — makes the gap between its clean-energy brand and AI's power appetite impossible to ignore for regulators, investors, and climate advocates.
