ECL Announces 1 GW Off-Grid Hydrogen-Powered AI Data Center
Data Center-as-a-Service company, ECL, which unveiled the world’s first off-grid, sustainable, modular, built-to-suit data center on June 20, 2024, will build the first fully sustainable 1GW artificial intelligence (AI) Factory data center – ECL TerraSite-TX1 on a 600 (243 ha) acre site east of Houston, with Lambda as its first tenant. The initial phase of TerraSite-TX1 will be delivered in the summer of 2025 at a cost of approximately US$450 million, with 50MW of data center capacity to be utilized by data center cloud and AI cloud operators. According to ECL, the entire 1GW site will be constructed at a cost of approximately US$8 billion, with funding to be provided by ECL and financial partners.
“The data center technology committed to by ECL is truly transformative in the industry,” said Ken Patchett, vice president of data center infrastructure, Lambda. “We believe ECL’s technology could unlock a powerful and eco-conscious foundation for AI advancement. This new infrastructure could give researchers and developers essential computational resources while drastically reducing the environmental impact of AI operations.”
The ECL-MV1, which is now in full production, is the world’s first off-grid, hydrogen-powered modular data center that operates 24/7 with zero emissions, minimal noise, and a negative water footprint, replenishing water to the community. According to ECL, it offers a 10x increase in energy efficiency with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.05 and a 7x improvement in data density per rack, which is ideal for AI high-density demands.
(Image courtesy of ECL)
Gartner predicts that by 2030, AI could consume up to 3.5% of the world’s electricity. “AI consumes a lot of electricity and water. This negative impact should be mitigated,” said Pieter den Hamer, vice president analyst at Gartner. “Executives should be cognizant of AI’s own growing environmental footprint and take active mitigation measures. For example, they could prioritize (cloud) data centers powered by renewable energy.”
Designed specifically for the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the site will also provide space for tenants to deliver cutting-edge AI cloud and traditional cloud services to their customers. Hydrogen will be provided by three separate pipelines that converge at the site, eliminating the need for additional fuel transportation. The initial 1GW phased development may be expanded to 2GW in the future, enabled by its modularity and based on customer demand.
ECL data centers are modular, allowing for easy expansion in 1MW increments. According to ECL, they are built and delivered in less than a year compared to the industry standard of three to four years. By eliminating the environmental impact associated with traditional data center development and utilization, they have the potential to give AI consumers assurance that their use of AI is not expanding their carbon footprints.
ECL’s AI data center management system, ECL Lightning, offers real-time monitoring and micro adjustment control over every aspect of data center operations, from power generation to rack cooling. The company’s proprietary cooling innovations include using water from hydrogen-based power generation, along with patent-pending quadruple loop and direct-to-chip cooling technologies for its extremely high-density racks.
ECL Terrasite-TX1 comes at a critical time for the state of Texas, with The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) testifying on June 12 this year that the state’s power grid needs will double by 2030 due in part to the growth of data centers and AI. In response, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick posted to X, “We want data centers, but it can’t be the Wild Wild West of data centers and crypto miners crashing our grid and turning the lights off.” ECL Terrasite-TX1 is purpose-built to eliminate the stress on the state’s power grid while facilitating state-level economic development and growth of the AI industry.
“While others talk about delivering off-grid, hydrogen-powered data centers in five, ten, or 20 years, only ECL is giving the AI industry the space, power, and peace of mind they and their customers need, now,” said Yuval Bachar, co-founder and chief executive officer of ECL. “The level of innovation that we have introduced to the market is unprecedented and will serve not only us and our customers but the entire data center industry for decades to come.”
