Project Jupiter TogetherForce Upgrade
The Project Jupiter construction site in the desert at Santa Teresa, New Mexico

In Doña Ana County, west of El Paso, a computer the size of a town is being built.

It will run on its own gas power plant, every hour of the year, and draw as much electricity as Albuquerque and Las Cruces together.

Sebastian: I'm Sebastian. I study computer science at NMSU, and I read the whole permit. I want to show you what this is, and a better way to build the same thing. How much do you want?

What's at stake

Here is what the plan does as it is written. The permit allows 8.8 million tons of carbon dioxide a year up the stacks, more than Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined; the water comes from the same aquifer Santa Teresa and Sunland Park drink from, the one that has been dropping since 2000; and the computers' heat, as much as 90,000 home furnaces, blows out into the desert. About 17,500 people have already written to the state about it.

Sources (10)
Sources
  1. [77] Draft Air Quality Permit 10883, Part A (Specific Conditions), YGI Microgrid. New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, July 2026. link ↗
  2. [2] Project Jupiter — Building Responsibly (presentation to the Board of County Commissioners). Oracle / STACK Infrastructure, presented to Doña Ana County, July 28, 2026. link ↗
  3. [79] Data center Project Jupiter's greenhouse gas emissions could rival NM's largest cities. Source New Mexico, Dec. 5, 2025. link ↗
  4. [23] Mesilla / Conejos-Medanos Basin: U.S.-Mexico transboundary water resources and research needs. U.S. Geological Survey (Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program), 2021. link ↗
  5. [33] New Mexico Supreme Court Asked to Stop Illegal Water Use for Project Jupiter Construction. Center for Biological Diversity, Aug. 20, 2026. link ↗
  6. [32] New Mexico Supreme Court puts Project Jupiter air proceeding, emergency well authorization on hold. New Mexico Political Report, Aug. 24, 2026. link ↗
  7. [9] Water Desalination Feasibility Study for Santa Teresa (Dr. Pei Xu, NMSU Civil Engineering). NMSU / New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, report M36 (also presented to the Legislature's Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee), Oct. 31, 2023. link ↗
  8. [3] Draft Statement of Basis, NSR Permit 10883 — YGI Microgrid. New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, July 29, 2026. link ↗
  9. [105] New Mexico AG to investigate 'alleged fraudulent' letters supporting Project Jupiter data center. Source New Mexico, July 9, 2026. link ↗
  10. [106] New Mexico DOJ investigating alleged fraudulent Project Jupiter public comments. Santa Fe New Mexican, July 9, 2026. link ↗
A row of Bloom Energy Server fuel-cell cabinets
Bloom Energy Server cabinets, the same product family as the 2,275-stack plant in Permit 10883. Reference photo at another site. Photo: Bloom Energy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
8.8 million tons
of CO₂ a year, permitted
A finished groundwater well head on a ranch near Benavides, Texas
A groundwater well: the pipe, the pump head and the valve are all there is to see above ground. Brackish water looks like clear water; the salt is dissolved. Photo: USDA NRCS / Beverly Moseley, CC BY 2.0.
103 million gallons
already pumped from the towns' aquifer
Dry cooler rows in the developers' render
The long dry-cooler rows in their render. This is where the heat leaves. Crop of Project Jupiter Together's labeled render, Aug. 27, 2026.
90,000 furnaces
of heat, blown away

You don't have to stop it to fix it.

This is the part that surprised me. Same 819 acres, same buildings, same opening date. You just build it the better way: catch the carbon instead of venting it, make water instead of only pumping it, send the heat next door instead of into the sky, and let the share of gas fall over time. About 8% more on the $50 billion first phase. That's the whole idea.

Sources (9)
Sources
  1. [3] Draft Statement of Basis, NSR Permit 10883 — YGI Microgrid. New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, July 29, 2026. link ↗
  2. [15] Bloom Energy and Chart Industries Announce Groundbreaking Carbon Capture Partnership. Bloom Energy, 2024. link ↗
  3. [9] Water Desalination Feasibility Study for Santa Teresa (Dr. Pei Xu, NMSU Civil Engineering). NMSU / New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, report M36 (also presented to the Legislature's Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee), Oct. 31, 2023. link ↗
  4. [73] Ground Water Storage and Recovery Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 72-5A-1 to 72-5A-17 (and rules at 19.25.8 NMAC). New Mexico Legislature / Office of the State Engineer, 1999; rules current. link ↗
  5. [85] Microsoft's $2bn Netherlands data center revealed (Agriport A7, Middenmeer). Data Center Dynamics, 2018. link ↗
  6. [86] Data center requirements under the new German Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG). White & Case, 2023. link ↗
  7. [78] NMSA 1978 § 62-17-12, Microgrid net-zero carbon resource requirement (HB93). New Mexico Statutes (Justia), 2025. link ↗
  8. [1] Project Jupiter Community Benefits Agreement (executed). Doña Ana County / Red Chiles A–D LLC / Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC, Nov. 12, 2025. link ↗
  9. [89] Credit for carbon oxide sequestration (Section 45Q). U.S. Internal Revenue Service, accessed Sept. 6, 2026. link ↗

  1. Catch the carbon

    Trap most of the CO₂ at the stacks instead of venting it, so far less heat-trapping gas reaches the sky.

  2. Make the water

    Turn deep salty water into 5 million gallons a day and recharge the aquifer with the towns' cleaned water, so its long decline slows.

  3. Use the heat

    Send the servers' waste heat to greenhouses that grow up to 60 million pounds of food a year, instead of blowing it into the desert.

  4. Shrink the gas

    Put the share of power that comes from gas on a public meter and lower it every year, toward wind and geothermal.

The years

Tap a year to trace the line up to it.

I want to be honest about the years. For the first two or three, the upgraded campus looks almost the same as the ordinary one: the meters go on, the permits get filed, the water plant is built. Around year five the plant opens, recharge begins, capture is metered, and the first greenhouses go up. By year ten, capture is at its target or the lease charges for the shortfall. The aquifer's decline slows. It doesn't stop, and I won't say it does.

Sources (8)
Sources
  1. [9] Water Desalination Feasibility Study for Santa Teresa (Dr. Pei Xu, NMSU Civil Engineering). NMSU / New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, report M36 (also presented to the Legislature's Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee), Oct. 31, 2023. link ↗
  2. [64] BD3 Status Update: Q4 2024 (848,388 tonnes captured in 2024; 85% availability). SaskPower, 2025. link ↗
  3. [53] Class VI — Wells used for Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide. U.S. EPA, accessed Sept. 2026. link ↗
  4. [2] Project Jupiter — Building Responsibly (presentation to the Board of County Commissioners). Oracle / STACK Infrastructure, presented to Doña Ana County, July 28, 2026. link ↗
  5. [1] Project Jupiter Community Benefits Agreement (executed). Doña Ana County / Red Chiles A–D LLC / Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC, Nov. 12, 2025. link ↗
  6. [78] NMSA 1978 § 62-17-12, Microgrid net-zero carbon resource requirement (HB93). New Mexico Statutes (Justia), 2025. link ↗
  7. [91] Unified Development Code, Chapter 350, Article V (Zoning Districts and Requirements): solar energy facility decommissioning. Doña Ana County, N.M. (eCode360), accessed Sept. 6, 2026. link ↗
  8. [23] Mesilla / Conejos-Medanos Basin: U.S.-Mexico transboundary water resources and research needs. U.S. Geological Survey (Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program), 2021. link ↗
DRY COOLERSnorth bandWAREHOUSEoutside the fenceDATA CENTERnorth row, westDATA CENTERnorth row, eastOPERATIONSoutside the fencePARKINGDATA CENTERmain hallDATA CENTEReast of the main hallCHILLER PLANTCHILLER PLANTCHILLER PLANTUNITSUNITSUNITSDRY COOLERSsouth band, westDRY COOLERSsouth band, eastSECURE ENTRANCEgate in the fenceSECURE EXITgate in the fenceGUARD BOOTHon the public roadGATEGATECO₂ CAPTUREinside the fence, at the exhaustHXheat exch.SOLAR STRIPbetween dry coolers and greenhousesGREENHOUSES · PROPOSED · ~150 AClocation to be set from their site plan · ¼ roof semi-transparent solarWATER PLANT5 MGD RO · inside the fencePACKING · INSTITUTEfronts both roads · loading docks on the streetSECURITY FENCEwarm waterpreheatCO₂ to greenhousesDRONE VIEW FROM THEIR AUG. 27, 2026 RENDER. NORTH UP. NOT TO SURVEY SCALE.THE RENDER SHOWS THE 400-ACRE FIRST PHASE; THE 819-ACRE SITE EXTENDS BEYOND THIS VIEW

It gets decided at the county's next consent point on the lease, and the permit record is open now. The full plan is on the next page.

See the full plan