New massive data center project proposed in Caldwell County

A nearly 320-acre data center campus may be coming to Caldwell County, adding to Central Texas’ growing cluster of server-filled buildings needed to support the future of artificial intelligence.

On Dec. 23, the Caldwell County Commissioners Court discussed a proposed 2 million-square-foot data center campus planned off State Highway 142 in Martindale, about 35 miles south of Austin.

Data centers make up what most people know as the “cloud.” These vast facilities are filled with servers that store and distribute information for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and universities. They provide the computing power that supports everyday digital activity, as well as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and advanced computing.

These data centers must run 24/7 and require large amounts of power and water to operate and properly cool servers.

The proposed Caldwell County project, which was presented last week to commissioners by Jordan Schaefer, a civil engineer with Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., would include a pair of 1 million-square-foot buildings and would not rely on water-based cooling. Schaefer told commissioners that water would be used only for administrative spaces and bathrooms, and that the developer plans to construct its own sewer system for wastewater disposal.

Schaefer told commissioners that a permanent power solution will not be available for about seven years, but that the development plans to use “clean-fuel” natural gas technology from TurboCell, a power and energy technology company, to bridge the gap.

The data center’s developers were unnamed as of Wednesday but have been linked to Edged Energy, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based data center infrastructure developer Endeavor.

Edged, which promotes energy-efficient data centers specifically designed to use less water, has projects underway in Dallas and in cities nationwide, including Phoenix, Atlanta, Chicago and Kansas City. The company also has data centers in Spain and Portugal.

Bill Greenwood, who was listed as the representative for the developer, has previously spoken on behalf of Edged as a director of development. The company has also been a promoter and user of TurboCell technology.

The Caldwell County commissioners will discuss the project again as part of a development agreement, but no date has been set.

Data centers have been cropping up nationwide at a rapid rate over the past few years, but Central Texas has experienced a particularly sharp increase.

The Austin-San Antonio hub, the nation’s top secondary data center market, has at least 55 existing or planned data centers between Temple and San Antonio as of 2025, including a Stargate data center planned in Milam County.

As of September, 462 megawatts of capacity were under construction in the region, up from just 9.5 megawatts during the first half of 2020. If each proposed data center project were completed today, the region would surpass Dallas-Fort Worth, the nation’s second-largest primary data center market, with vacancy rates near a record low of 1.8%.

While they provide necessary infrastructure for a multibillion-dollar industry, data centers pose several environmental concerns, especially related to water and power usage and noise pollution. New research shows the use and training of AI may already generate more carbon emissions than New York City and consume more water than the global bottled water industry, largely due to data center operations.

RELATED: ‘Tech takes that soul away’: Central Texas emerges as data center hotspot, raising rural concerns

Recent peer-reviewed research published in the journal Patterns found that the rapid expansion of AI is driving sharp increases in data center energy and water use — impacts that could be especially pronounced in fast-growing regions such as Central Texas.

A data center project in San Marcos was stalled earlier this year after public backlash over a proposed nearly 200-acre data center on the outskirts of town. The project, which failed to receive supermajority support from the San Marcos City Council in August for a rezoning request, is now planning to return before the council in February.

The Interstate-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio has several data center projects planned, including two others in San Marcos and two more in Caldwell County, one encompassing roughly 3,000 acres and another $4 billion planned development.