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Artificial intelligence continues to modify energy markets, even as oil giants like ExxonMobil enter the mix.
Exxon announced this week that it plans to build a power plant for data centers, reflecting how much electricity technology companies expect they will need in the next decade. According to one estimate, nearly half of new AI data centers may not have sufficient capacity by 2027.
The oil and gas company already operates power plants for its own operations, but the new project will be its first for external customers. The planned power plant will run on natural gas and generate more than 1.5 gigawatts.
In a development, Exxon said that it intends to capture and store more than 90% of the carbon dioxide produced by the plant.
The company does not plan to connect the power plant to the grid, to avoid the interconnection backlog that plagues many new power plants. In annual Strategy document Published on Wednesday, Exxon described the new project as “reliable, integrated energy without reliance on grid infrastructure.” It did not mention where the power station would be located. Exxon did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
The facility should be completed within the next five years for the company He said New York Times. That’s a shorter timeline than most nuclear power plants, which has caught the attention of energy-hungry technology companies. Most of them are not scheduled to be published online until the early 2030s.
But Exxon faces tougher competition from renewable energy sources, which have proven rapid in deployment and whose prices remain low. Google’s recently announced renewable energy investment, which will total $20 billion, including partners, will begin sending electrons to the grid in 2026. Microsoft is contributing to a $5 billion, 9-gigawatt renewable energy portfolio in which it has already made its first investment; The inaugural solar project is scheduled to come online Six to nine months From now on.
What makes matters more complicated for Exxon is the fact that the carbon capture and storage (CCS) process adds… Big cost To build and operate a fossil fuel power plant. So far, there are only a few power plants around the world that capture some of their carbon pollution, According to To the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, none of which are powered by natural gas. That may change given the tax credits available under the FCA, which offer between $60 and $85 per metric ton of carbon captured and stored.
However, this technology still suffers from some glitches that need to be resolved at a commercial level. Some have He hits their goals, while others failed to achieve their goals. One long-term carbon capture and storage facility in Canada promised to capture 90% of the carbon dioxide produced by a small coal plant, but after nearly a decade of operation, it has only captured less than 60%. According to Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
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