Monday, August 3, 2026
Meta's El Paso Campus Hits 1 GW Without Buying a Single Server
BlackRock's infrastructure fund holds 80% of Meta's $14B El Paso campus through a $12.5B debt stake, with Meta leasing back the 1 GW site it never had to buy. The structure lets hyperscalers scale capacity off their balance sheets, and the capital following that model is now chasing Texas sites where power and permits, not financing, set the timeline.
Today's Lead
Meta and BlackRock have structured a $14B, 1 GW AI campus in El Paso as a debt-financed lease play: BlackRock-managed funds hold 80% and finance $12.5B through debt, Meta keeps 20% and leases compute back rather than owning it. The campus is under construction now, targeting 2028, and it signals how hyperscale buildout at gigawatt scale moves on third-party ownership models, not direct tech capex. El Paso's power supply and interconnection position were enough to win the commitment; grid capacity and water availability will decide which Texas sites take the next wave.
NATIONAL CONTEXT
Opposition hardened in three jurisdictions this week, each a data point on site-selection risk. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek terminated the state's own contract to sell 32 acres in Salem to Verrus, an Alphabet-backed developer, before the company had presented its closed-loop cooling or grid-flex design. New York banned hyperscale facilities over 50 MW, and Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed a 20-MW moratorium (LD 307) only because the Town of Jay lobbied to keep a single project alive. Fifteen states have introduced moratorium bills, and 70% of Americans oppose data centers in their communities, per reporting in The Atlantic.
Federal expedite authority is running the other direction, and it carries its own timeline risk. The BLM cleared Townsite Solar 2's data center near Boulder City, Nevada, the first on public land, and the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a July 27 appeal that Interior says could take two years. In Kentucky, Brookfield and NextEra are pairing a $100 billion Paducah complex with 2 GW of new gas, contingent on state utility approval and a federal cleanup running to 2065. The through-line for Texas developers: states writing rules without developer input can override operational design before a project gets a hearing, and speed without visible process amplifies backlash.
Power
Behind-the-Meter Is the Standard Play, and the Permit Fight Follows It
PowerPlay AI is building a 400 MW self-supplied campus near Abilene, targeting 2028 by bypassing the interconnection queue entirely and locking natural gas service agreements instead. Board member Luke Velterop put the logic plainly: interconnection queues now stretch into the 2030s, so on-site generation wins the speed game. That same private-generation model is drawing the sharpest opposition in Bexar County, where Public Citizen, Sierra Club, and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a July 22 complaint against two Vantage campuses over their 423 MW of VoltaGrid gas capacity, alleging they took minor-source air permits that should be major-source. Bottom line: developers self-supplying power should resolve the major-source permit question before site acquisition, because the carrying cost of a mid-build TCEQ challenge lands on the energization date.
Politics
PUCT and ERCOT Ask the Legislature for More Data Center Authority
The PUCT and ERCOT are petitioning the Legislature for expanded authority over data centers, following Governor Greg Abbott's directive to manage grid and infrastructure impact, according to a podcast discussion flagged by the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter. University of Texas researcher Joshua Rhodes expects the sector to anchor the next legislative agenda: "there will be some bills trying to inject some discipline into this market." No formal proposals or docket language exist yet, so developers can't model compliance cost until the agencies file. Bottom line: the shape of these rules decides whether deployment holds at current velocity, and the operators absent from the comment periods are the ones who inherit rules written without them.
Grid
The Lot-Line Problem in Northeast Tarrant County
Powerhouse is moving a 1.1 million-square-foot campus on 89.6 acres in Westlake, where data centers are permitted by right, toward an August 4 Planning and Zoning hearing. The developer has already secured generation, buying a substation from Oncor, and limits water use to peak cooling. The exposure is the border: 15 Marshall Ridge homes sit 200 feet away in Keller, which wasn't notified before the July 29 announcement, and Keller officials are now reactive rather than informed. Bottom line: a developer can build entirely on its own side of the line and still absorb a multi-year opposition campaign from an adjacent jurisdiction, and the cost of a pre-announcement conversation is a fraction of that.
Policy
Cooperative Ownership as the ERCOT Volatility Hedge
Rayburn Electric Cooperative's 2023 acquisition of the 758 MW Rayburn Energy Station in Sherman is paying off: the plant ran at 98% to 100% availability through this year's record heat with zero heat-related derates. Load growth is now running 25% over the next decade, enough to justify a 570 MW expansion backed by the Texas Energy Fund. The lesson traces to Winter Storm Uri, when Rayburn faced three years of power costs in five days and bankruptcy was on the table. Bottom line: operators carrying heavy ERCOT wholesale exposure have a shrinking window to secure dispatchable generation while assets are in market and load trajectories stay clear.
Land
The Supply Chain Is Rewriting the Owner-EPC Sequence
Turbine prices are forecast to climb through 2027, and a 345-kV breaker on one recent project carried a four-year lead time with no liquidated-damages recourse. Kiewit's Kyle Harris framed it directly: "Every day that you don't make a decision is really something that is going to drive costs up." Securing a turbine slot years out locks one line on the schedule; it doesn't lock transformers, switchgear, or labor crews. Bottom line: developers who wait to engage contractors until after designs are final are betting the supply chain stabilizes before build phase, and the current market doesn't support that bet.
Capital
A Possible $15B Edged Exit Signals Sector Liquidity
Koch Inc. is shopping Edged, its US and European data center operator with active Texas capacity, in a process Goldman Sachs is running that could reach $15 billion, according to a report; multiple bids are in hand with no final deal. Edged sits inside Endeavour, a platform bundling data center infrastructure with power and cooling systems, a structure that reflects the industry's bet on vertical integration around generation and thermal management. Bottom line: the buyer's identity will signal whether the sector's returns support leveraged financial ownership or continued strategic consolidation, and whether the market prices confidence in power and water at Edged's Texas sites.
Water
Two Out-of-State Projects Show Where the Resource Fight Lands
Water is the binding constraint in the drought-exposed West, not just a permitting line item. The BLM-approved Nevada facility sits ten miles from Lake Mead, where over 95% of the Colorado River Basin watershed is in drought. In Spokane County, Apricus Energy Partners, a company with fewer than 11 employees and no completed projects, is pitching a 1,000 MW campus that would draw millions of gallons daily over groundwater already carrying PFAS contamination. Bottom line: developers who arrive without water offset commitments and community benefit agreements hand organized opposition its opening argument before formal review starts. In Texas, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance has already flagged stress across 21 counties.
Sources we cited
15 articles across 13 publishers · 150 reviewed today
- Meta, BlackRock announce $14 billion AI data center project in TexasJul 28, 2026·By : Jaspreet Singh / Reuters//July 28, 2026// A 3D-printed Meta logo and the word "AI" are seen in this illustration created on July 20, …
- AI Data Centers Are Quietly Running on Natural Gas and These 3 ETFs Own the Whole Supply ChainAug 2, 2026·Data center construction across the United States is running headfirst into a power supply problem, and natural gas is emerging as the faste…
- [3]The AtlanticThe One Town That Wants a Data CenterAug 3, 2026·Opposition to data centers may be the singular unifying issue in American politics. Seventy percent of Americans are against data-center con…
- Oregon governor blocks data center development, stops land saleAug 3, 2026·Governor Tina Kotek stops land sale in Salem to Verrus The governor of Oregon has intervened to block a data center development outside Por…
- [5]OutsideThe Federal Government Just Greenlit the First AI Data Center on Public LandJul 30, 2026·The proposed center comes at a time when more than 95 percent of the Colorado River Basin watershed is experiencing drought and researchers …
- More details on government turning Paducah uranium plant into an AI data center and gas power complexAug 1, 2026·FILE - The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is seen near Paducah, Ky., Nov. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Stephen Lance Dennee) The U.S. Department of…
- [7]W.MediaPowerPlay AI plans 400 MW West Texas AI data centerAug 3, 2026·PowerPlay AI, an energy infrastructure company, through a joint venture (JV) with a Nasdaq-listed neocloud partner, is developing a 400 MW b…
- Bexar County is home to at least 30 data centers and countingAug 2, 2026·Omicron Drive runs for roughly two miles at the western edge of Bexar County, before it enters neighboring Medina County and ends at County …
- More Authority for Data Centers? | Reading and Podcast Picks - August 2, 2026Aug 2, 2026·Continued struggles over data center regulation; a new solar farm from a coal plant; energy efficiency tips; and more.
- Keller residents concerned about proposed data center near homes, elementary school - Fort Worth Star-TelegramJul 31, 2026·Some Keller residents say they are concerned about the proposed location of a 1.1 million-square-foot data center campus in nearby Westlake …
- [11]POWER MagazineRayburn Energy Station: A Cooperative’s Answer to Texas-Sized RiskAug 3, 2026·For Rayburn Electric Cooperative, ownership of the 758-MW combined cycle plant in Sherman, Texas, means stable rates, hardened reliability t…
- [12]POWER MagazineIs the Power Project Crunch Upending the Owner—EPC Model?Aug 3, 2026·Developers and contractors at a recent event described how the generation buildout is forcing earlier engineering, procurement, and construc…
- Data center firm Edged up for sale for $15 billion – reportAug 3, 2026·Koch-backed company reportedly received multiple bids Data center firm Edged may be on the market for a buyer. Citing people with knowledg…
- [14]Technical.lyEnergy startups are raising billions to solve the data center power problemAug 3, 2026·• The rapid buildout of data centers is straining existing power grids, creating an urgent need for innovative methods to create or distribu…
- A company proposing a massive West Plains data center has nearly zero history, spurring outcry from concerned residents - The Spokesman-ReviewAug 2, 2026·The company proposing to build a massive data center on the West Plains has sought partners from here to Southern California to help it buil…