Oracle pledges 2 GW of renewables in bid to ease opposition to Stargate data center
Oracle has offered to fund 2 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects in New Mexico, but the pledge won't stop its Project Jupiter data center for OpenAI from running on natural-gas-fed fuel cells. Local residents and environmental groups continue to protest and pursue legal action against the project.
On September 8, Oracle and OpenAI announced a plan to invest in 2 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects in New Mexico, a move that comes as local opposition threatens to delay the $165 billion Project Jupiter data center under construction in Santa Teresa. The facility is part of the broader Stargate AI infrastructure initiative announced by President Donald Trump in 2025.
Michael Thomas, CEO of the Cleanview data platform, described the renewables pledge as "synthetic," since the 2 GW would not directly power the data center. Instead, Oracle would claim the environmental credit for renewable projects built elsewhere in the state, while the facility's actual primary power source remains natural-gas-fueled Bloom Energy fuel cells.
From turbines to fuel cells
The original plan called for 2.2 gigawatts of gas turbine capacity that could have produced up to 14 million tons of CO2 emissions annually — enough, Thomas said, to wipe out two decades of the state's emissions reductions. Following protests, lawsuits, and two rejections by New Mexico's Land Office of a proposed gas pipeline, the companies shifted to 2.45 gigawatts of fuel-cell technology instead.
According to Oracle's Julia Robin, the switch could cut nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 90 percent, and the fuel cells could eventually run on hydrogen or biogas. Oracle also pledged $1 million toward carbon-capture research.
Still, Thomas noted the data center could remain the state's single largest emissions source. New Mexico's Supreme Court paused the facility's air-quality permitting process on August 23 amid legal challenges from environmental groups, though construction has continued and reached 26 percent completion. Oracle CFO Hilary Maxon said on September 10 that the project faces no construction delays.
