El Paso Electric plans to have a $500 million, 366-megawatt power plant built in 10 months, with a design never used by the company, to meet part of the huge power needs of Meta’s giant data center complex under construction in Northeast El Paso.
This is an unprecedented, short timetable for an EPE power plant project.
By comparison, it took six years from announcement to completion for EPE to add a $211 million, 227 MW generation unit to the Newman Power Station, El Paso Electric’s largest power plant, located about six miles from the Meta data center site.
Meta Platforms Inc., the company that operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is building the data center complex on a 1,000-acre site near the intersection of Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue and U.S. Highway 54 in far Northeast El Paso. It plans to spend billions of dollars on the complex to help it meet the growing needs of artificial intelligence, or AI.
“The (McCloud Generation plant) project was specifically selected because of its short construction period,” EPE officials said in an email. “Rather than traditional large turbines and steam systems, McCloud Generation will be made up of hundreds of standardized, air-cooled natural gas generators that can be manufactured and installed at the same time.”
Construction of the power plant is scheduled to begin in August and be completed in May 2027, EPE reported.
Meta to pay McCloud power plant costs
Meta will pay the costs of the power plant and it won’t affect rates of other EPE customers during the first five years of operation, when it’s not tied to EPE’s grid, according to EPE’s December 2025 filing with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, or PUCT, which must approve the project.
It will generate the amount of power needed for 182,500 El Paso homes, according to EPE officials.
The natural gas-fueled power plant will cost almost $500 million to build, including almost $27 million in financing costs, according to EPE’s project application.
EPE will use cash from operations, debt, equity infusions from its parent company, the JPMorgan Chase-tied Infrastructure Investments Fund, or a combination of these to finance the project, according to EPE’s filing.
El Paso Electric has contracted with Enchanted Rock to build and operate the power plant, which EPE will own. The Houston company specializes in quickly building on-site generation for data centers and other industrial projects.
El Paso Electric needs quick decision from PUCT
To meet the proposed construction schedule, EPE will need a decision from the PUCT well before its legal deadline of Dec. 9. A hearing will be held in April before an administrative law judge, who will issue a proposal for a decision that will be sent to the agency’s four commissioners, who have the final say.
The city of El Paso, an industrial group, and three others are intervenors in the proceeding, which means they can ask questions and contest all or portions of EPE’s project plans.
The first phase of Meta’s El Paso complex was to have two data center buildings with 1.2 million square feet of space and cost about $1.5 billion, including equipment costs, a Meta official said when the project was officially announced Oct. 15. A planned expansion will substantially increase the complex size and price tag.
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Meta complex needs 1 gigawatt of power by 2029
The complex will need 440 megawatts of power for its first phases, but may need up to 1 gigawatt, or 1,000 MW, by 2029 for its final phase, according to EPE’s filing. That amount of electricity is almost equal to the 1,155 MW generation capacity of El Paso Electric’s largest power plant, the Newman Generating Station.
EPE will use electricity from its existing power sources to supply the data center’s first 220 MW phase. The second, 220 MW phase is to be supplied by the proposed McCloud power plant, EPE reported in December.
After the five-year “bridge period,” the plant will be connected to EPE’s system, and the utility will seek to incorporate the plant into its rate structure, according to EPE’s filing.
State Rep. Mary Gonzalez opposes power plan
State Rep. Mary Gonzalez, who represents part of El Paso County, in a March 16 letter to the PUCT, asked the regulators to deny EPE’s request to build the power plant.
If EPE has to supply the data center, it should be required to do so through renewable energy sources, which won’t use lots of water, and won’t pollute the air, she said.
The Sembrando Esperanza Coalition, an El Paso neighborhood organization led by environmental lawyer Veronica Carbajal, has also made it clear that it wants the PUCT to reject the McCloud power plant.
“New industry in our region must run on renewables,” the group stated in a flyer opposing the entire data center project.
Solar not feasible for Meta timetable, EPE says
But James Schichtl, EPE vice president of customer and regulatory solutions, in filed testimony, said no other options are feasible to supply the amount of energy Meta needs in 2027 for the data center.
A large-scale solar plant would require thousands of acres of land adjacent to the Meta complex, and that land is not available, he said. Also, building a traditional power plant with large gas-fueled turbines requires two to three years of lead time because of high demand, he said.
A Meta spokesperson said in an email that the company “will continue to match the electricity use of this data center (complex) with 100% clean and renewable energy.” How that match will be done was not specified.
“We are working with El Paso Electric, as well as energy developers, to add new energy to the grid,” the spokesperson said.
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McCloud power from 813 natural gas-fired generators
The McCloud plant will be built on 31 acres that EPE is buying, adjacent to the data center complex.
It will have 813 natural-gas-fueled generators placed in 168 rows to produce up to 366 megawatts of electricity.
Teresa Sosa, EPE director of environmental and safety, said in filed testimony that the power plant will have “minimal and manageable environmental impacts.”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency, has determined the McCloud plant can operate with a standard air permit that does not require public notice or public meetings, according to EPE’s filing.
Not having to go through a lengthy air permit review saves EPE and Enchanted Rock months.
The air permit will allow the plant to emit almost 309 tons per year of seven pollutants, according to an Oct. 22, 2025, letter that TCEQ sent to Enchanted Rock and is included in EPE’s filing.
Also, the power plant will not use a lot of water, Sosa said in her filed testimony.
“The generators are air cooled and do not require water for their operation. Primary use of water for the project will be for safety showers and potable uses,” Sosa said.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on X, and @vkolenc.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Fast plan: EPE to build Meta data center power plant in 10 months
Reporting by Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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