El Paso
West Texas city; site of Meta's 366 MW behind-the-meter gas data centre in a water-stressed region.
Last refreshed: 26 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for El Paso
Designated as site for Meta's 366 MW BTM natural gas data centre array
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: xAI wins 41 gas turbines for Colossus- Does Meta have a data centre in El Paso?
- Yes. Meta operates a 366 MW behind-the-meter gas-powered data centre facility in El Paso, Texas, using onsite generation rather than ERCOT grid connection.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
Background
El Paso is a city on the US-Mexico border in FAR West Texas, notable in the data centre debate as the location of a Meta 366 MW behind-the-meter gas-powered data centre facility in a water-stressed, arid region. The El Paso case highlights the tension between the abundance of cheap land and power in the Chihuahuan Desert region and the environmental constraints of building very large water-cooled or gas-powered infrastructure in an area already facing long-term water scarcity under climate projections.
Meta's El Paso facility uses behind-the-meter gas generation rather than grid connection, consistent with the broader BTM trend in US AI infrastructure development. The site underscores the BYOP pattern: available land and the ability to generate power onsite are sufficient to build large-scale AI infrastructure without grid-connection constraints, regardless of local water and environmental concerns.