Silicon Valley is building a shadow power grid for data centers across the U.S.

[Nevilledog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/19/data-centers-power-grid-ai/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/1at6I


The GW Ranch project approved on 8,000 windswept acres of West Texas will look like many of the other data centers that have sprung up across the country to support Silicon Valley’s ambitions for artificial intelligence. Dozens of airplane-hangar-size warehouses packed with computing hardware will consume more power than all of Chicago.

But it’s missing one standard feature: The mammoth project, recently green-lit by state environmental regulators, won’t need new power lines to deliver the electricity that it guzzles. GW Ranch will be walled off from the power grid and generate its own electricity from natural gas and solar plants installed on site.

GW Ranch is set to become part of a shadow power grid emerging across the country with potentially far-reaching consequences for the U.S. electricity system and environment.

After the rapid growth of data centers triggered pushback from politicians, utilities and local residents over the pressures they place on the grid, tech companies are now building their own fleet of private power plants, mostly fueled by natural gas.

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