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Data centers’ continued demand for power is anticipated to be so great that Exxon Mobil is planning to build a massive power plant to directly supply them.
The natural gas-fired plant, the location of which has not been disclosed, is also expected to have pricey carbon-capture technology that could capture more than 90% of the project’s carbon dioxide emissions, The New York Times reported.
“We’re working with other large cap industrials to rapidly deploy a solution that would provide both high reliability and low carbon-intensity power to meet the growing demand for computing power for artificial intelligence,” Exxon Chief Financial Officer Kathy Mikells said during a presentation to investors on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
These types of low-carbon systems are so costly that they are not widely implemented at power plants. But tech companies are so desperate to get access to continuous power that they are willing to pay top dollar.
Exxon said it had secured property for the project and was in talks with possible customers. The company also said that its power plant would not connect to the electrical grid, shortening the time to delivery. It could have the power plant operational in five years, according to the NYT.
Exxon had previously said it would not explore the electricity business, so the fact that it is now so far along on a project like this “shows just how much the growth of data centers and the rise of artificial intelligence are reshaping the energy industry,” the NYT wrote.
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