NEWS: Big Tech's data center power playbook is getting a lot gassier. 💨

The background: Some tech giants have made lofty sustainable commitments in recent years, including net-zero pledges at Google, Microsoft, and Meta. And as of 2024, renewables contributed about a quarter of electricity at US data centers. But their latest data center moves suggest these green ambitions may be going by the wayside.

For one, Google appears to be leaning more heavily on natural gas. It’s joining forces with Crusoe on a 933-MW natural gas plant (with no carbon capture) to power a Texas data center campus—it could emit more carbon dioxide annually than the city of San Francisco.

It’s a similar story with Microsoft: They’re in exclusive talks with Chevron and Engine No. 1 over a $7B, 2.5-GW gas plant in West Texas, one of the largest of its kind in the US. The plant will power a large data center campus, and it could go online before 2030—and eventually ramp up to 5 GW.

But how real is the demand? Utilities have disclosed over 187 GW of data center load commitments. But around 43% of them lack binding financial obligations, and just five utilities hold over half of the explicit binding commitments.