ExxonMobil is preparing to join the power generation sector and sees an opportunity to support electricity supply for energy-intensive data centers. The company said on December 11 that it is designing a so-called “massive” natural gas-fired power plant intended to produce power for data centers. According to reports, the facility could have a generation capacity of more than 1,500 MW. Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a media call on Wednesday: “There are very few options in the near term to power those data centers and do so in a way that simultaneously minimizes, if not completely eliminates, emissions. .” There are currently no U.S. natural gas-fired power plants with carbon capture technology, although NET Power said Monday it would build gas-fired power plants in California and use carbon capture. Electric utilities and energy producers are scrambling to find ways to meet the expected exponential increase in energy demand due to artificial intelligence and the high-tech sector. Natural gas has become a leading option for an industry seeking, partly due to its lower costs to 24/7 electricity. Nuclear power is also being considered, along with renewable energy and energy storage. Some utilities have also said they expect to keep coal plants online longer than expected to meet increasing demand for electricity gas-fired power plant would have technology to capture more than 90% of the plant’s CO2 emissions. According to the company, the project is still in the early stages of development. Exxon has built gas-fired power plants before, but only for the company’s own operations. Houston, Texas-based ExxonMobil did not disclose the cost or location of the new power plant, but said it had secured land for the facility and is talking to groups that could potentially buy the power. The company said it could have the plant ready for operation within five years. Exxon also said it would not attempt to connect the plant to the electric grid, which could speed up the permitting and construction process. Dan Ammann, an Exxon executive involved in the company’s low-carbon activities and a former president of General Motors, told The New York Times: “We are driven by market demand here. It is low carbon, available on an accelerated timeline and it avoids all network interconnection challenges.” Exxon is an oil and gas giant. The company, which also said Wednesday it expects to increase its oil and gas production by about 18% from current levels by 2030, has said it plans to spend $30 billion on developing alternative energy sources and reducing emissions from its activities in the coming years. . The company said earlier this year that it is working with tech giant Intel to develop new liquid cooling technologies for data centers. The groups said they would work together to “design, test, research and co-develop energy-efficient coolant solutions” that could support systems built on chipmaker Intel’s x86 architecture. The companies said the technology could help data center operators reduce emissions from their facilities and support more energy-efficient operations. —Darrel Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
