The power facility, which will be co-located with the data center in Reeves County, is expected to deliver 2.67 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power roughly 667,500 homes for one hot summer day in Texas.
Locating the power facility on the same site as Microsoft’s data center enables Chevron to sidestep grid connections and supply it directly with electricity, which will be made onsite using natural gas produced in the Permian Basin and gas turbines, the company said. Chevron said the project will generate more than $10 billion in state and local tax revenue and will support nearly 2,000 jobs.
“Chevron is uniquely positioned to deliver power to customers with certainty, speed and at a competitive cost, leveraging Permian natural gas and our proven execution capabilities,” Jeff Gustavson, Chevron’s president of New Energies, said in a statement. “This project links Chevron’s traditional strengths to emerging demand, creating differentiated value for our shareholders and the communities where we operate.”
Chevron plans to use non-potable, brackish groundwater sources for its power generation operation, it said. The company also aims to reuse oilfield wastewater, known as “produced water,” as a water source.
Last week, Chevron and its partners announced the startup of a second produced-water treatment pilot facility in Reeves County, a collaboration between Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy and Western Midstream. The facility is designed to produce roughly 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed oilfield wastewater.
With the new pilot facility, the companies said it aimed to develop a new water source in a dry region while reducing the amount of wastewater the industry disposes of underground — a practice triggering a rash of earthquakes, leaking wells and toxic geysers.
Western Mistream’s CEO Oscar Brown said last week in a statement that the wastewater treatment in Reeves County “marks a pivotal milestone in our journey to transform a produced-water stream from a disposal challenge into a valuable resource for the Permian Basin and beyond.”
“Through our multi-barrier treatment approach, we are transforming that stream into highly treated reclaimed freshwater suitable for industrial cooling and irrigation applications, while helping reduce pressure on Texas’ limited water resources,” Brown said.
