Amazon is building an AI data center campus in Texas powered by an up to 7.65-gigawatt off-grid natural gas plant, making it the largest fossil fuel-fired power plant ever to exist in the United States, according to market research company Cleanview, which reported the news on Friday. The plant, developed by Pacifico Energy and dubbed “GW Ranch,” secured permits from Texas regulators in January and is also permitted for up to 750 megawatts of solar and 1.8 gigawatts of battery energy storage. Cleanview uncovered construction permits showing Amazon owned the site, and the company confirmed it acquired the site and planned to buy power from Pacifico’s plant. The plant will use 35 “simple cycle” generating units, a less efficient technology than modern “combined cycle” natural gas plants, and is allowed to emit as much as 33 million tons of CO2 per year, twice as much as the James H. Miller Jr. coal plant in Alabama emitted in 2023. An Amazon spokesperson said the project is powered by new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families and is designed to transition to grid-connected service.