Data Center Census Near me

Meta El Paso Data Center

El Paso, El Paso County, TXDeveloper: Meta

Under constructionMeta says capacity begins coming online in 2028; BlackRock-managed funds to hold 80% under July 2026 venture
  1. Rumored
  2. Proposed
  3. Approved
  4. Under construction
  5. Operating

Meta is building a 1 GW AI data center on about 1,000 acres in Northeast El Paso, north of Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue and west of US 54. The stated investment rose from $1.5 billion in 2025 to more than $10 billion in March 2026, and a July 2026 venture put total development costs at about $14 billion. El Paso Electric has proposed a dedicated 366 MW gas plant (McCloud) next to the site, which environmental justice groups and residents oppose.

Planned capacity
1 GW[6]
1 GW of compute capacity
Site size
1,000 acres[1]
Permanent jobs (promised)
300
city incentive requires at least 50

Key facts

Size & schedule

Planned capacity1 GW [6]
1 GW of compute capacity
Site size1,000 acres [1]
Floor area1.2 million sq ft [2]
nearly 1.2 million sq ft, per October 2025 announcement
Stated investment$14 billion [6]
approx. total development cost under Meta-BlackRock venture; earlier stated as $1.5B (2025) and >$10B (Mar 2026)
Permanent jobs (promised)300 [6]
city incentive requires at least 50
Construction jobs4,000 workers [6]
peak; 2,300+ onsite as of July 2026
Target completionCapacity starts coming online in 2028; McCloud plant expected in 2027 [6]

How big is that? Data center sizes compared with football fields and Central Park.

Power

UtilityEl Paso Electric [3]
Utility pages: El Paso Electric · data centers and bills
Power supplyEl Paso Electric's proposed 366 MW McCloud gas plant ($473M, 813 Enchanted Rock modular generators) on 31 adjacent acres, dedicated to the data center [3]
Utility commission casePUCT Docket 59076 (El Paso Electric McCloud Generation) [7]
Source excerpt
“El Paso Electric McCloud Generation (Docket 59076): PUC Staff submitted direct testimony and engineering analysis on the 366 MW natural gas facility for data center service”

Water

Water use2,500,000 gal/day [1]
maximum at full build-out; tiers at 100,000, 750,000 and 1.5M gpd average

Money & incentives

Tax incentivesChapter 380 agreement: 80% city property tax rebate, ~$110M for Phase 1 (15 yrs), up to $550M across all phases (35 yrs) [1]

Local decisions & site

ZoningUse permitted by right under existing zoning [1]
Source excerpt
“The use is permitted by right. The property is zoned appropriately and is subject to meeting all zoning requirements.”

Figures are as stated by the cited source. Where sources disagree, each figure is shown.

Water and power

Water

Not disclosed. No source reviewed gives a water figure for this site. The Census does not estimate one.

Power

Planned capacity1 GW [6]
UtilityEl Paso Electric [3]
Power supplyEl Paso Electric's proposed 366 MW McCloud gas plant ($473M, 813 Enchanted Rock modular generators) on 31 adjacent acres, dedicated to the data center [3]

Disclosed figures only, each as the cited source states it. Many are projections or permit limits, not metered use. How data center water and power use is measured, and every disclosed figure →

Timeline

  1. El Paso City Council approves incentive agreements [1]

  2. Meta announces El Paso data center, >$1.5B [2]

  3. El Paso Electric proposes $473M McCloud gas plant to serve the data center [3]

  4. Meta raises stated investment to more than $10B [5]

  5. El Paso City Council votes 5-3 against beginning negotiations to end the Meta incentive agreement [8]

  6. State Office of Administrative Hearings begins testimony on El Paso Electric's proposed McCloud Generation Facility [9]

  7. Meta announces venture with BlackRock (80% BlackRock funds / 20% Meta), ~$14B total cost [6]

Issues raised

  • Environmental justice groups and residents raise concerns about air pollution in an ozone-burdened city, water scarcity and utility rates [4]
  • Residents say they were earlier told the site would use solar, not fossil fuels [4]

Issues are concerns and claims raised by the parties, officials or residents named in the cited sources. They are reported as attributed, not as findings by the Census.

Sources

  1. Data Centers
    City of El Paso · government
  2. Hello, El Paso!
    Meta Data Centers · Oct 15, 2025 · company
  3. El Paso Electric proposes $473 million gas plant to power Meta data center operations
    KVIA (El Paso Matters) · Jan 18, 2026 · news
  4. El Paso's plan to build natural gas power plant for massive data center kicks up opposition
    Texas Tribune (Inside Climate News) · Jan 26, 2026 · news
  5. Big things are happening, El Paso!
    Meta Data Centers · Mar 26, 2026 · company
  6. Meta Announces New Strategic Venture with BlackRock to Develop Data Center in El Paso
    Meta Investor Relations · Jul 28, 2026 · company
  7. DocketWatcher — PUCT Weekly Briefing
    DocketWatcher (Substack) · Jun 22, 2026 · other
  8. El Paso city council votes to keep Meta data center incentive agreement
    KFOX14 · Jun 9, 2026 · news
  9. Key hearing begins on El Paso Electric gas plant proposal for Meta data center
    CBS4 / KFOX14 · Jul 8, 2026 · news

Cite this page

Last updated Sep 23, 2026. Figures may change as records are updated — include the date you retrieved them.

APAData Center Census. (2026). Meta El Paso Data Center. Retrieved from https://datacentercensus.com/dc/meta-el-paso-tx
MLA“Meta El Paso Data Center.” Data Center Census, Sep 23, 2026, https://datacentercensus.com/dc/meta-el-paso-tx.
Linkhttps://datacentercensus.com/dc/meta-el-paso-tx

Republishing a figure or table? Attribute it to Data Center Census with a link to this page. The underlying data is downloadable as JSON and CSV; the press kit has standing figures and contact details.