Not built yet. Every figure below is what it would take and emit at the capacity its owners have announced.
Water — consumed, not returned
Taken from the basin2,680M gal/yr
Evaporated on site107M gal
Making the power2,573M gal
Basin stressExtremely High
Where the water comes from
Closed loop — negligible draw
Cooling
Air-cooled closed loop
Basis
Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.05 L/kWh
Air — what the stacks emit
Nitrogen oxides1,217t/yr
Sulphur dioxide893t/yr
Fine particulates138t PM2.5
Health damages$123M/yr
Where it burns
WECC Southwest — Ariz. / N.M.
Generation mix
Gas 46 · Nuclear 22 · Solar 14 · Coal 12
CO₂e
3,019 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
Who wanted it
Who asked for it
Meta — self-build
Who approved it
City of El Paso and county incentives; El Paso Electric supply plus Meta-contracted solar
What it serves
Meta AI training and inference
IT capacity
0 MW running of 1,000 MW announced
Announced in 2025 with a commitment to match its electricity with new solar and to run essentially without evaporative cooling — the Chihuahuan desert leaves no other option.
Water and air figures are modelled from disclosed capacity, not measured — site-level
error is roughly ±40%. Diesel backup generators are not counted, so on-site figures are floors.
Full method.