Exxon AI cannot resist the Power Gold Rush

AI is continuing to change power and energy markets, including oil giants like Exxon Mobil.

Exxon has announced this week that she is planning to build a power plant for data centers, reflecting how many power -tech companies they will expect in the coming decade. According to an estimate, half of the new AI data centers by 2027 may not have enough strength.

The oil and gas company already operates power plants for its operations, but the new project will be its first place for external consumers. The planned power plant will run on natural gas and produce more than 1.5 gigwat.

In one turn, Exxon said he intends to catch and store more than 90 % of the plant -born carbon dioxide.

The company is not intended to connect the power plant to the grid, avoiding the backback of co -operation, which has suffered many new power plants. In the year The strategy document Published on Wednesday, Exxon described the new project as a “reliable, completely island power that has no reliance on grid infrastructure.” He did not say where the power plant would be located. Exxon did not respond to the comment request before the publication.

This facility should be completed in the next five years, the company Told New York Times. This is mostly a timeline than nuclear power plants, which have engulfed the sight of energy -stricken tech firms. Most of them are not scheduled to come online until early 2030s.

But Exxon faces stiff competition with renewable sources, which have been quick to continue to deploy and reduce prices. Google’s recently announced renewable energy investment, which will have a total of $ 20 billion, will start sending electrons to the grid in 2026. Microsoft is contributing to $ 5 billion, 9 GHwat renewable portfolio, which has already invested its first. Opening Solar Project is coming online Six to nine months From now on.

Making matters complicated for Exxon is the fact that carbon capture and storage (CCS) increases Value For the construction and operation of the foam fuel power plant. So far, there are only a handful of power plants around the world that occupy some of their carbon pollution, According to The World CCS Institute, and none of them run on natural gas. The inflation reduction can change in view of the tax credit available under the Act, which offers carbon carbon carbon carbon capture and stored between $ 60 to 85 Between per metric tonnes.

Nevertheless, this technology has some concrete to work on a commercial scale. Something is there Hit Their goals, while the others are very few. A long -running CCS facility in Canada promised to capture 90 % of carbon dioxide from a small coal plant, yet after almost a decade, it only succeeded in arresting less than 60 %, According to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.