Project Jupiter ‘back on better footing,’ commission chairman says

Project Jupiter’s new plan to generate electricity for its data centers with fuel cells instead of gas-fired power plants means water use will be very low, its developers say.

The shift away from burning natural gas also means a reduction of about 30 percent in emissions, based on numbers included in air quality permit applications.

And county officials say Oracle, one of the primary developers of the massive campus of advanced artificial intelligence data centers in Santa Teresa, has improved communication, which increases transparency around the project.

Doña Ana County Commissioners Susana Chaparro and Manuel Sanchez, the board’s chair, met recently with officials from Oracle. Before that, Sanchez had been complaining for weeks about a lack of communication from the developers.

“I feel like we’re back on better footing,” Sanchez told me.

Chaparro still has questions but said she is “relieved” by the improved communication. She said the Oracle officials “seemed open, seemed knowledgeable, seemed to be more prepared than the other representatives I’ve heard in the past.”

I’ve had an ongoing email conversation with representatives of Oracle and BorderPlex Digital, another Project Jupiter partner, since April 27, when they announced the new plan for power generation. My aim was to better understand how the use of fuel cells will impact Project Jupiter’s commitments to our community, and our air and water.

It took awhile, but Oracle answered all my questions. That is another sign of increased engagement with our community. In the past, the developers often refused to answer my questions.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

On water use

Project Jupiter’s promise of low water use for operations — an average of 20,000 gallons per day and a peak of 60,000 per day — is the primary pledge that set it apart from many other data centers in a positive way.

We knew the developers planned to also buy water from a nearby sod farm for construction and the initial filling of cooling systems, but expected that to be temporary based on pledges made to the public and county officials.

That came into question last month when the Office of the State Engineer said Project Jupiter planned to use up to 1 million gallons per day in operations of its gas-fired power plants. The developers never confirmed or denied that number but did acknowledge they planned to use sod-farm water in operation of their power plants, which would have made their water use substantially higher than promised.

Now that they’ve switched power sources, the developers are recommitting to low water use. They say they will use a minimal amount of non-potable water from the sod farm once construction is complete.

The initial fill of the fuel cells’ cooling system will require 960,000 gallons of water, or “the amount of water used by just nine households in a year,” Oracle says in a blog post.

After that, Oracle spokesperson Michael Egbert told me, “ongoing water maintenance needs” for the power plant will be about 167,000 gallons per year. Annual maintenance of the cooling systems at the four data centers will require no more than 4,000 gallons, he said.

“This is a negligible amount of water, especially relative to the size and scale of the power being generated,” Egbert said.

It averages out to just a few hundred gallons per day, Sanchez pointed out. He expects overall water use to remain within the 20,000 average daily gallons promised publicly.

Chaparro wants accountability. She asked, again, that a limit on use of non-potable water be added to the county’s legal agreements with the developers.

On power generation

Project Jupiter initially sought permission to emit more than 14 million tons of greenhouse gases into the air each year. With the shift to fuel cells, the developers are now asking to be allowed to emit 10.1 million tons per year, as detailed in the air quality permit application filed with the N.M. Environment Department.

While that’s a substantial reduction, it’s still more than the cities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces emit each year, combined. It’s also roughly equivalent to the yearly emissions from about 2.2 million passenger vehicles.

Redundancy is built into power generation. Project Jupiter’s actual emissions will be 18-35 percent less than 10.1 million tons per year “depending on the time of year and the utilization of the servers at any point in time,” another Oracle spokesperson, Candice Van Der Laan, told me.

Fuel cells are expensive. Using them to power such a massive project is essentially unprecedented. Solar is cheaper, but the amount of generation needed — 2.45 gigawatts, or an amount roughly equivalent to El Paso Electric’s entire generating capacity in Texas and New Mexico — would require somewhere around 20-30 square miles of land for solar panels. That would lead to substantial habitat destruction.

Still, I wanted to hear why Oracle doesn’t have at least some solar generation in its plans. Bloom Energy’s fuel cells better meet the need, Egbert told me.

“Project Jupiter requires highly reliable, around-the-clock power,” he said. “…for this deployment we need a power architecture that can provide consistent, resilient service at data-center scale.”

The state requires utility companies like El Paso Electric and PNM to be net-zero carbon by 2045. The language in state law exempts microgrids that aren’t connected to the grids the rest of us use — like Project Jupiter’s fuel cells — from that mandate.

Regardless, the county’s legal agreements with the developers include that requirement. To keep its 30-year property tax emption, Sanchez pointed out that Project Jupiter must move to clean energy in the next 19 years.

The fuel-cell technology allows natural gas to be replaced over time with biofuels, hydrogen, or a blend, Egbert said.

On Project Green

Oracle’s shift to fuel cells means an effort to develop up to 1 gigawatt of clean energy generating capacity in the coming years called Project Green is no longer part of the plan for Project Jupiter.

But that effort by BorderPlex Digital Assets continues, said Bryson Hull, a spokesman for that company. It’s just separate from Project Jupiter. 

“With the project’s meaningful shift to cleaner fuel cell technology, the needs and focus for Project Green have evolved,” Hull said. “All parties continue to evaluate long-term investments in renewable energy across the region, and BorderPlex remains actively engaged in assessing the area’s geothermal potential.”

Oracle’s Egbert also called that work “a separate BorderPlex initiative.” 

Southern New Mexico has substantial potential for the development of geothermal as a clean energy source. BorderPlex Digital announced in January that it had contracted with New Mexico Tech and the state to help it examine the possibilities.

What state lawmakers are saying

State Rep. Sarah Silva, a supporter of Project Jupiter (and this reporter’s spouse), authored a column published by the news organization El Paso Matters promoting trainings that will help folks get jobs building Project Jupiter. She wrote that she’s cautiously optimistic about the switch to less-polluting fuel cells. She said she will be monitoring water use.

“I’ll push for Project Jupiter to become greener,” Silva wrote. “I’ve been learning about New Mexico’s substantial potential for tapping into geothermal energy. I’ve been talking with New Mexico State University about a geothermal microgrid they’re planning.”

State Rep. Nathan Small, another supporter, praised the shift to fuel cells and Oracle’s improved communication.

“The place we’re emerging from was unacceptable, both in terms of resource use and lack of communication and lack of transparency,” he told me.

Project Jupiter remains highly controversial, and Small credited folks who have made their voices heard, including opponents of the project, with forcing Oracle to shift its power plans.

“The investment of time, energy and people’s feelings, their questions, their opposition or their support — all of that is very welcome,” he said. “It’s helped bring us needed changes.”

Small encouraged folks to keep pushing for Project Jupiter and other development projects to provide greater benefits in terms of jobs, reductions in emissions and water use, and protection of wildlife habitat and watersheds.

“I think our community should not be hesitant, nor shy, in fighting for more investment,” Small said.

Silva called for the state to learn from its experience with Project Jupiter by creating rules for future data centers “that require more community involvement and protect our water and air.”

State Sen. Jeff Steinborn is working on one aspect of that. He has proposed legislation to force microgrids to produce zero-carbon energy by 2045.

Steinborn, who doubts Project Jupiter will stay around for the 30-year term of the property tax exemption, isn’t sold by the shift to fuel cells.

“It’s still going to be a massive polluter at 10 million tons a year,” he said. “It’s imperative that they deploy a significant amount of renewable energy to continue to reduce and minimize their carbon footprint.”

What county commissioners are saying

Chaparro, meanwhile, is listening with an open mind. She described herself as “more comfortable with what I heard (from Oracle), but not sure if I can trust it.”

She wants the county to hire its own experts to examine Project Jupiter’s plans and provide “more neutral information” to commissioners.

“If the county were able to speak to our own subject matter experts… it would make me feel better about this data center,” Chaparro said.

Sanchez, meanwhile, said he is grateful for the developers’ increased communication. He said Oracle has committed to meeting twice a month with county officials. Sanchez raised the possibility of monthly presentations to the county commission and public on Project Jupiter’s progress.

Oracle is also creating a website that will publicly track numbers of people working to build Project Jupiter. It will identify how many are New Mexicans and how many are union members, Sanchez said.

Sanchez also met with officials from OpenAI, the company that will use Project Jupiter’s computing power. With New Mexico State University building an artificial intelligence academic program, he asked about the possibility of OpenAI providing special access for professors and students in that program.

“That would be an amazing step forward,” he said.

Commissioners worked to build legal protections for the community into the county’s agreements with Project Jupiter, Sanchez said. He shares Silva’s desire to standardize such protections for future development projects.

“It is my hope that Project Jupiter is an example of doing it the right way,” Sanchez told me.

What’s next?

In the meantime, construction on Project Jupiter continues at a rapid pace. In her column, Silva described visiting the site recently and speaking to 1,200 workers there. She said 20 percent are New Mexicans.

The Environment Department is reviewing the application for the fuel-cell power plant to determine whether it is complete. If it is, a technical evaluation is next, and the department will solicit public comments.

Opponents of Project Jupiter have advocated for months for the county to hold a public meeting in the Santa Teresa area on the project. The meeting, which will include the developers, has been tentatively scheduled for June 18 from 5-8 p.m., county officials say.

AN ASK: I’ve been watchdogging Project Jupiter since the beginning. I won’t stop. I’m trying to grow my donor base to include 100 recurring monthly supporters. Please, help me by making a donation or signing up to make monthly contributions. Thank you!

DISCLOSURES: State Rep. Sarah Silva, a supporter of Project Jupiter, is my spouse. And state Rep. Nathan Small, another supporter, performed our wedding.