ADVERTISEABOUT USSUBMIT A STORYSUBSCRIBETERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY
Visit our family of Brands

Meta to buy all power from new ENGIE Texas solar farm

power purchase

Meta will use electricity generated by one of ENGIE's Texas solar farms to power its U.S. data centers. Photo via engie.com.

Meta, the parent company of social media platform Facebook, has agreed to buy all of the power from a $900 million solar farm being developed near Abilene by Houston-based energy company ENGIE North America.

The 600-megawatt Swenson Ranch solar farm, located in Stonewall County, will be the largest one ever built in the U.S. by ENGIE. The solar farm is expected to go online in 2027.

Meta will use electricity generated by the solar farm to power its U.S. data centers. All told, Meta has agreed to purchase more than 1.3 gigawatts of renewable energy from four ENGIE projects in Texas.

“This project marks an important step forward in the partnership between our two companies and their shared desire to promote a sustainable and competitive energy model,” Paulo Almirante, ENGIE’s senior executive vice president of renewable and flexible power, said in a news release.

In September, ENGIE North America said it would collaborate with Prometheus Hyperscale, a developer of sustainable liquid-cooled data centers, to build data centers at ENGIE-owned renewable energy and battery storage facilities along the I-35 corridor in Texas. The corridor includes Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Waco.

The first projects under the ENGIE-Prometheus umbrella are expected to go online in 2026.

ENGIE and Prometheus said their partnership “brings together ENGIE's deep expertise in renewables, batteries, and energy management and Prometheus' highly efficient liquid-cooled data center design to meet the growing demand for reliable, sustainable compute capacity — particularly for AI and other high-performance workloads.”
From Your Site Articles
ENGIE is partnering with Prometheus Hyperscale to develop liquid-cooled, AI-ready data centers in Texas. Photo via engie.com

Engie launches next-generation data center development in Texas

coming soon

Houston-based Engie North America has entered into an agreement with Wyoming-based Prometheus Hyperscale to develop liquid-cooled data centers at select renewable and battery storage energy facilities along Texas’ I-35 corridor. Its first AI-ready data center compute capacity sites are expected to go live in 2026.

“By leveraging our robust portfolio of wind, solar, and battery storage assets — combined with our commercial and industrial supply capabilities and deep trading expertise — we're providing integrated energy solutions that support scalable, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure," David Carroll, chief renewables officer and SVP of ENGIE North America, said in a news release.

Prometheus plans to use its high-efficiency, liquid-cooled data center infrastructure in conjunction with ENGIE's renewable and battery storage assets. Both companies believe they can meet the growing demand for reliable, sustainable compute capacity, which would support AI and other more demanding workloads.

"Prometheus is committed to developing sustainable, next-generation digital infrastructure for AI," Bernard Looney, chairman of Prometheus Hyperscale, said in the release. "We cannot do this alone—ENGIE's existing assets and expertise as a major player in the global energy transition make them a perfect partner as we work to build data centers that meet market needs today and tomorrow."

On-site power generation provider Conduit Power will assist Prometheus for near-term bridging and back-up solutions, and help tenants to offset project-related carbon emissions through established market-based mechanisms.

More locations are being planned for 2027 and beyond.

"Our collaboration with Prometheus demonstrates our shared approach to finding innovative approaches to developing, building and operating projects that solve real-world challenges,” Carroll added in the release.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

New report predicts major data center boom in Texas by 2028

data analysis

Data centers are proving to be a massive economic force in Texas.

For instance, a new report from clean energy company Bloom Energy predicts Texas will see a 142 percent increase in its market share for data centers from 2025 to 2028. That would be the highest increase of any state.

Bloom Energy expects Texas to exceed 40 gigawatts of data-center capacity by 2028, representing a nearly 30 percent share of the U.S. market. A typical AI data center consumes 1 to 2 gigawatts of energy.

“Data center and AI factory developers can’t afford delays,” Natalie Sunderland, Bloom Energy’s chief marketing officer, said in the report. “Our analysis and survey results show that they’re moving into power‑advantaged regions where capacity can be secured faster — and increasingly designing campuses to operate independently of the grid.”

“The surge in AI demand creates a clear opportunity for states that can adapt to support large-scale AI deployments at speed,” Sunderland adds.

Further evidence of the data center explosion in Texas comes from ConstructConnect, a provider of data and software for contractors and manufacturers. ConstructConnect reported that in the 12-month span through November 2025, data-center construction starts in Texas accounted for $11 billion in spending. At $12.5 billion, only Louisiana surpassed the Texas total.

Capital expenses for U.S. data centers were expected to surpass $425 billion last year, according to ratings agency S&P Global.

ConstructConnect also reports that Texas is among five states collectively grabbing 80 percent of potential data center construction starts. Currently, Texas hosts around 400 data centers, with close to 60 of them in the Houston market.

A large pool of data-center construction spending in Texas is flowing from Google, which announced in November that it would earmark $40 billion for new AI data centers in the state.

“Texas leads in AI and tech innovation,” Gov. Greg Abbott proclaimed when the Google investment was unveiled.

Other studies and reports lay out just how much data centers are influencing economic growth in the Lone Star State:

  • A study by Texas Royalty Brokers indicates Texas leads the U.S. with 17 clusters of AI data centers. The study measured the density of AI data centers by counting the number of graphics processing units (GPUs) installed in those clusters. GPUs are specialized chips built to run AI models and perform complex calculations.
  • Citing data from construction consulting company FMI, The Wall Street Journal reported that spending on construction of data centers is expected to rise 23 percent in 2026 compared with last year. Much of that construction spending will happen in Texas. In the 12 months through November 2025, the average data center cost $597 million, according to ConstructConnect.
  • Data published in 2025 by commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield shows three Texas markets — Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — boast the lowest construction costs for data centers among the 19 U.S. markets that were analyzed. The mid-range of costs in that trio of markets is roughly $10.65 million per megawatt. Houston isn’t included in the data.

Although Houston isn’t cited in the Cushman & Wakefield data, it nonetheless is playing a major role in the data-center boom. Houston-area energy giants Chevron and ExxonMobil are chasing opportunities to supply natural gas as a power source for data centers, for example.

“As Houston rapidly evolves into a hub for AI, cloud computing, and data infrastructure, the city is experiencing a surge in data-center investments driven by its unique position at the intersection of energy, technology, and innovation,” says the Greater Houston Partnership.

Houston-based ENGIE to add new wind and solar projects to Texas grid

coming soon

Houston-based ENGIE North America Inc. has expanded its partnership with Los Angeles-based Ares Infrastructure Opportunities to add 730 megawatts of renewable energy projects to the ERCOT grid.

The new projects will include one wind and two solar projects in Texas.

“The continued growth of our relationship with Ares reflects the strength of ENGIE’s portfolio of assets and our track record of delivering, operating and financing growth in the U.S. despite challenging circumstances,” Dave Carroll, CEO and Chief Renewables Officer of ENGIE North America, said in a news release. “The addition of another 730 MW of generation to our existing relationship reflects the commitment both ENGIE and Ares have to meeting growing demand for power in the U.S. and our willingness to invest in meeting those needs.”

ENGIE has more than 11 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in operation or under construction in the U.S. and Canada, and 52.7 gigawatts worldwide. The company is targeting 95 gigawatts by 2030.

ENGIE launched three new community solar farms in Illinois since December, including the 2.5-megawatt Harmony community solar farm in Lena and the Knox 2A and Knox 2B projects in Galesburg.

The company's 600-megawatt Swenson Ranch Solar project near Abilene, Texas, is expected to go online in 2027 and will provide power for Meta, the parent company of social media platform Facebook. Late last year, ENGIE also signed a nine-year renewable energy supply agreement with AstraZeneca to support the pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing operations from its 114-megawatt Tyson Nick Solar Project in Lamar County, Texas.

Houston geothermal company raises $97M Series B

fresh funding

Houston-based geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems has closed its Series B fundraising round and plans to use the money to launch its first commercial next-generation geothermal power generation facility.

Ormat Technologies and Carbon Direct Capital co-led the $97 million round, according to a press release from Sage. Existing investors Exa, Nabors, alfa8, Arch Meredith, Abilene Partners, Cubit Capital and Ignis H2 Energy also participated, as well as new investors SiteGround Capital and The UC Berkeley Foundation’s Climate Solutions Fund.

The new geothermal power generation facility will be located at one of Ormat Technologies' existing power plants. The Nevada-based company has geothermal power projects in the U.S. and numerous other countries around the world. The facility will use Sage’s proprietary pressure geothermal technology, which extracts geothermal heat energy from hot dry rock, an abundant geothermal resource.

“Pressure geothermal is designed to be commercial, scalable and deployable almost anywhere,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, said in the news release. “This Series B allows us to prove that at commercial scale, reflecting strong conviction from partners who understand both the urgency of energy demand and the criticality of firm power.”

Sage reports that partnering with the Ormat facility will allow it to market and scale up its pressure geothermal technology at a faster rate.

“This investment builds on the strong foundation we’ve established through our commercial agreement and reinforces Ormat’s commitment to accelerating geothermal development,” Doron Blachar, CEO of Ormat Technologies, added in the release. “Sage’s technical expertise and innovative approach are well aligned with Ormat’s strategy to move faster from concept to commercialization. We’re pleased to take this natural next step in a partnership we believe strongly in.”

In 2024, Sage agreed to deliver up to 150 megawatts of new geothermal baseload power to Meta, the parent company of Facebook. At the time, the companies reported that the project's first phase would aim to be operating in 2027.

The company also raised a $17 million Series A, led by Chesapeake Energy Corp., in 2024.

View All Listings