Planned gas plants for U.S. data centers could rival France's emissions

Planned gas-fired power plants built to feed U.S. data centers could generate 662 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, a level the Environmental Integrity Project estimates would rival the annual emissions of France or Australia. Its review covered 74 proposed or planned projects and estimated they could produce 143 gigawatts of electricity.

The group focused on so-called behind-the-meter plants, which supply data centers directly instead of sending power through the grid. That setup can speed approvals because developers bypass the interconnection process, but it also leaves projects with fewer years of permitting and fewer public hearings than a typical large power plant. The trend is already moving through state agencies and local communities.

The pollution burden goes beyond climate gases. The 74 projects could also release 159,142 tons a year of health-damaging air pollutants, including 44,281 tons of nitrogen oxides and 32,684 tons of fine particulate matter. The Portsmouth Powered Land Project in Ohio is the largest single polluter in the inventory, with an estimated 53 million tons of greenhouse gases each year, more than all of New York City’s 2024 emissions.

Texas emerged as the biggest concentration point, with nearly half of the identified projects planned there. Texas' growing data center load, record population growth, industrial electrification and extreme weather, including Winter Storm Uri, are all adding pressure on the power system, and peak electricity demand could nearly double by 2034. Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia also had clusters of proposed plants, underscoring how the construction wave is spreading across major industrial corridors.

Global Energy Monitor put U.S. gas-fired power capacity in development in 2025 at almost 252 gigawatts, nearly triple the prior level, with more than one-third of that capacity intended to directly power data centers on-site. At least 57 off-grid U.S. power plants are proposed or under construction for individual data centers, including the Apollo facility in Ohio, which was approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board on February 3 after less than three months of review, with its draft air permit unavailable until construction had already begun.