The Renewable Energy Smackdown Is Failing, Bigly

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The “American Energy Dominance” plan of US President Donald Trump left a big, gaping hole where wind and solar energy ought to be. However, industry stakeholders are not taking the smackdown lying down. A case in point is the North American branch of the leading global energy firm ENGIE, which has just inked a new deal with the data center firm Prometheus Hyperscale aimed at deploying the vast renewable energy resources of Texas.

Renewable Energy & Texas

It’s no surprise to see the renewable energy connection arise in Texas. Prometheus established its flagship 1.2-gigawatt (and rising) data center in Wyoming on account of the availability of renewable energy. The firm has also branched out to renewables-rich Colorado and Arizona, and Texas is next in its sights.

Texas rocketed into the renewable energy revolution of the 21st century on the strength of its wind resources, and its solar energy stakeholders have also cranked up to speed. Going by data from the Solar Energy Industries Association, Texas is currently the #2 state in installed solar capacity, topping 43.5 gigawatts. SEIA also projects that Texas will add more than 40.8 gigawatts over the next five years, vaulting it into the #1 slot for solar capacity additions.

The data center construction boom has been contributing to the rapid-fire pace of renewable energy development in Texas, and that’s where ENGIE has spotted a new opportunity to put its North American portfolio to use.

ENGIE announced the hookup with Prometheus on September 2, calling it a “shared approach to finding innovative approaches to developing, building and operating projects.” The agreement calls for the two companies to co-locate data centers at ENGIE’s renewable energy and battery storage sites along the I-35 corridor in Texas, in and around the Dallas area.

“Under the exclusive agreement, Prometheus will deploy its high-efficiency, liquid-cooled data center infrastructure alongside ENGIE’s renewable and battery storage assets,” the two companies explained in a press statement. If all goes according to plan, the first co-location projects will be up and running in 2026, with additional sites to be built out beginning in 2027.

Data Centers & Energy Innovation

ENGIE has been building its renewable energy and storage portfolio in Texas hand over fist, one recent example being a new 2.4-gigawatt battery storage finance deal with the leading global real estate developer CBRE, covering 31 projects split between Texas and California.

I’ve reached out to ENGIE for more specifics on the number of projects involving new Prometheus data centers in Texas, so stay tuned for an update. In the meantime, don’t get too excited about the potential for a 100% renewable energy scenario just yet. Prometheus also makes room for natural gas with carbon capture in its energy closet, which the new agreement accommodates. Prometheus plans to work with the distributed gas power generation specialist Conduit Power on an as-needed basis, either for backup power or as a temporary solution.

Gas aside, the renewable energy part of the agreement with ENGIE represents another angle on the impact that data center innovators are making on the US energy profile. The massive sucking of energy taking place across the US grid has provided clean tech stakeholders with plenty of opportunities to show off their work in energy efficiency as well as renewables.

There is even talk of shooting data centers out into space to conserve terrestrial energy resources in favor of of 24/7 solar energy in orbit. However, real-world solutions are much closer at hand.​Prometheus, for example, deploys geothermal energy to run its water-free, energy efficient cooling systems.” This not only conserves valuable resources but also lowers operational costs for our clients,” the company states.

Earlier this year Prometheus also partnered with the flow battery startup XL Batteries. Flow batteries provide long duration storage beyond the capability of conventional lithium-ion battery arrays, expanding opportunities to sock away more wind and solar energy. “We need batteries that offer performance at or above lithium, without risk of overheating to deploy at our data halls,” explains Prometheus founder and CEO Trenton Thornock in a press statement in May.

“XL Batteries’ organic flow battery technology offers a scalable, long-duration, non-toxic energy storage solution that will help us to deliver the next generation of AI data centers,” he added.

Renewable Energy & Cryptocurrency

On its part, ENGIE has also been exploring strategies for taking advantage of the intermittent nature of renewable energy, especially in the case of wind power. The idea is to hook up with off-takers that can use the output of wind farms at night, when wind conditions are typically optimal but electricity demand drops.

In May, ENGIE dropped word of a preliminary agreement enabling the crypto mining firm Cipher Mining to pull up to 300 megawatts from an ENGIE wind farm.

“The new arrangement would leverage the wind project’s renewable energy generation to power the co-located data center, helping to alleviate an already congested transmission area,” ENGIE explained. “This helps offset basis risk and mitigate curtailment challenges especially in regions like West Texas, where wind and solar resources are abundant but often face constraints due to transmission bottlenecks and curtailment.”

More Nuclear Energy For Texas, Too

Another interesting item in the Prometheus portfolio is a a strategic partnership with the startup Oklo, which is developing scalable, self-stabilizing, waste-recycling fission power plants.

Prometheus aims to deploy the technology for the first time at its Wyoming facility. Though fission sounds like a solution best reserved for regions where renewable energy is not readily available, Oklo has also attracted the interest of the oil and gas producer Diamondback Energy, which is exploring the potential for using Oklo’s technology to power its oil and gas operations in the Permian Basis, in Texas.

Texas lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle are already jockeying to tip the scales in favor of nuclear energy. Earlier this year, Republican State Representative Cody Harris introduced HB 14, a bill that would put taxpayers on the hook for $2 billion in financial support to attract more nuclear projects into the state.

If that doesn’t sound fair, it isn’t. However, it is of a piece with other goings-on in the state legislature. After all, Republican lawmakers in Texas have spent the past several years trying to burden (though largely failing) renewable energy stakeholders with new requirements, while giving oil and gas a pass.

Photo (cropped): The global firm ENGIE is joining its renewable energy portfolio in Texas with the next-generation data center startup Prometheus Hyperscale (courtesy of ENGIE).