More natural gas-fired generation being developed to power US data centers than California's entire generating capacity

[progree]

Last edited Fri Apr 3, 2026, 01:25 AM - Edit history (1)

from all sources combined.

Nearly 100 gigawatts ((100,000 MW -progree)) of natural-gas fired power are currently in development throughout the US solely to power data centers

This is a horrendous number. Catastrophic.

For scale, Hunter posted at about noon Pacific Time Thursday that California is using 27,000 MW of power (from all sources) at the moment. California is the 4th largest economy in the world, larger than Japan's.

In 2024, California had an in-state electric power generating capacity from all sources of 89,000 MW. -- https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/electric-generation-capacity-and-energy

About 39,000 of that is from fossil fuel (38,576 MW of natural gas and 351 MW of oil)

https://www.wired.com/story/a-new-google-funded-data-center-will-be-powered-by-a-massive-gas-plant/

As data center developers face lengthy wait times to connect to electricity grids and rising concerns over consumer electric bills, they’re increasingly turning to building their own energy, or what’s known as behind-the-meter power. For these projects, gas is king; data centers are now driving a US boom in natural gas. Nearly 100 gigawatts ((100,000 MW -progree)) of natural-gas fired power are currently in development throughout the US solely to power data centers, according to research ( https://www.wired.com/story/data-centers-are-driving-a-us-gas-boom/ ) published by the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor in January.

Per the Global Energy Monitor research, there are at least 15 projects in development across the US that are larger than the Goodnight campus. Several of these projects have only just been announced or are still in the development phase, and have not yet filed air permits detailing just how much greenhouse gases they will emit. But the numbers that have been made public are jaw-dropping: . . . ((a couple examples given -progree))

Emphasis added by Progree

[NickB79]

1. When you factor in methane leaks, natural gas isn't much better than coal

If built out, this will lock in 3C of warming by the end of the century. Maybe 4C.

A global mass extinction event.

[progree]

2. I'm glad you get it. It's been a big yawner so far for the DU community overall. So I changed the title

from
"Nearly 100,000 MW of natural-gas fired power are currently in development to power data centers in U.S."

to
"More natural gas-fired generation being developed to power US data centers than California's entire generating capacity
from all sources combined"

I'm guessing "100,000 MW" is an entirely meaningless number to most everybody, so they don't even click on it. Hopefully the new title -- with some sense of the scale of it, will be more meaningful.