Pacifico Energy has revealed plans for a 5GW offgrid power project in Pecos County, Texas.
The GW Ranch project will be located on 8,000+ acres and will be purpose-built to support hyperscale data center operators and artificial intelligence applications.
According to Pacifico, the project will be totally off-grid, comprising high-efficiency natural gas turbines and advanced battery storage. Doing so, Pacifico contends, will allow for an expedited route to deployment while not compromising on reliability.
Pacifico has said that it is positioned to deliver 1GW of natural gas power by 2028 and achieve full power delivery of 5GW in 2030. The project will also include 1.8GW of energy storage and will be deployed in a phased approach, taking advantage of a modular design.
Further details on potential data center partners have not been shared.
“GW Ranch isn’t just about scale - it’s about certainty,” said Constantyn Gieskes, VP at Pacifico Energy. “Every aspect of the project has been designed to solve problems with the status quo in data center development. By building off-grid and working hand-in-hand with local officials, we’re delivering the speed, reliability, and responsible development that our customers and communities both demand.”
Pacifico has already initiated permitting with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and claims that it will meet all environmental regulatory requirements.
"The minimal impact of an off-grid data center will increase the county tax base, create new jobs, and have an overall positive impact on our county while conserving water and placing no constraints on local infrastructure,” said Remie Ramos, Pecos County economic development director. “We look forward to helping GW Ranch expedite all processes to bring the project to fruition in the near future.”
The project's location in Pecos County, will provide access to the Permian Basin, one of the largest producers of natural gas in the US. In 2024, natural gas production across the Permian rose by 12 percent year-over-year, accounting for 22 percent of the marketed natural gas production in the US, according to the EIA.
The high production levels, combined with the favorable regulatory environment in Texas, have led several data center operators to announce projects that aim to utilize the Permian’s natural gas production to power data centers behind-the-meter.
A notable example is Texas Critical Data Centers, which recently closed the purchase of 235 acres of land in Ector County, Texas, to build a 250MW natural gas-powered AI data center, with the potential to scale beyond 1GW.
Permian-based natural gas companies are also positioning themselves as supplier to the sector. In February, Diamondback Energy, a Texas-based oil and gas firm, said it was on the lookout for data center operators to partner with to locate their facilities in the Permian Basin.
Pacifico Energy is the energy arm of investment firm Pacifico Group. Based out of San Juan, California, the company has interests in both renewable and fossil fuel-based energy projects.