The country’s largest oil company is designing a natural gas power plant outfitted with carbon capture technology to meet the voracious power demand of technology companies.
Demand for electricity is rising so quickly in the United States that even Exxon Mobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, is planning to get into the power business.
Exxon is designing a massive natural-gas fueled plant meant to directly supply electricity to data centers. The company says the plant will be fitted with technology that can capture more than 90 percent of the facility’s carbon dioxide emissions, the leading cause of climate change.
The project, which is in the early stages of development, would be the first time that Exxon built a power plant that did not supply electricity to its own operations.
In addition, only a very small number of power plants have systems to capture the carbon dioxide released by the burning of fuel before it reaches the atmosphere so that it can be permanently stored under ground. Such systems have been slow to take off because they are incredibly expensive, even with federal subsidies.
However, technology giants have been willing to pay a premium for cleaner sources of electricity that can operate continuously, including nuclear power plants.
Exxon said it had secured land and is talking with potential customers. The company aims to have the power plant running within the next five years, faster than new nuclear reactors could probably be built.