How Project Jupiter’s Self-Supplied Power Plan Can Benefit New Mexico Utility Customers
By Oracle—Oct 22, 2026
Project Jupiter’s updated energy plan is designed to substantially reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions compared to previous plans, use a negligible amount of water, and allow the data center to generate power through a private microgrid. The campus will not require New Mexico utility customers to fund new generation, transmission, or distribution infrastructure for the project.
New Mexico’s 2025 Advanced Grid Technology Act allows qualifying microgrids to serve large loads separately from the public grid and requires the energy they generate and sell to come from net-zero-carbon resources by 2045.
“The revised Project Jupiter design reflects the outcome New Mexico’s microgrid framework was intended to produce: cleaner technology, private capital bearing private costs, and infrastructure that strengthens rather than strains the grid,” wrote Archie Fallon, partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, in recent comments submitted to the New Mexico Environment Department.
Fallon is former counsel for Yucca Growth Infrastructure, which develops behind-the-meter power infrastructure for large-load customers in the Southwest and is a Project Jupiter partner.
The AI data center campus is located in Doña Ana County’s Paso del Norte border airshed. The project’s updated power design is expected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions substantially compared with the prior design. It replaces the natural-gas turbines and diesel backup generators previously planned for the site with solid oxide fuel cells manufactured by Bloom Energy.
Because fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction rather than combustion, they substantially reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides, a key contributor to regional ozone.
The fuel-cell microgrid will provide up to 2.45 gigawatts of installed capacity for the campus while using a negligible amount of water—an important consideration in a water-scarce region. Fuel cells also operate more efficiently than simple-cycle turbines, meaning less fuel is consumed, and less carbon dioxide emitted, for each megawatt-hour delivered.
All of these benefits are achieved without requiring additional grid or generation infrastructure, with any project-related power costs privately funded without impacts to utility customers.
Project Jupiter remains committed to developing responsibly, protecting New Mexico’s resources, and engaging transparently with the community.