Data centers driving demand for gas from PNW - The Lewiston Tribune
What's documented Columbia Riverkeeper and Sightline Institute report on Oregon/Washington utilities permitting 12 MW methane plant for Vantage Grant County campus.
Electric utilities in Oregon and Washington are increasingly turning to natural gas to meet surging data center demand, putting both states at risk of missing their climate targets, according to reports from Columbia Riverkeeper and the Sightline Institute. Public utility districts are permitting on-site gas generators for data centers, including a 12 MW methane plant for a Vantage campus in Grant County, Washington. Researchers argue the gas buildout is unnecessary if data centers were required to power down during demand spikes, as Texas does.
- Oregon and Washington utilities shifting to gas to serve data center demand
- Oregon now projected to miss its 2035 climate goal until 2037
- Grant County, WA approved a 12 MW VoltaGrid methane plant for a Vantage campus
- Amazon says it has invested more than $60 billion in Oregon since 2010
- An E3 study cites 9 GW needed by 2030; a Sylvan Energy analysis disputes the need