Data Center Construction Across the Permian Basin

Along Interstate 20 between Pecos and Big Spring, we build data halls, power yards and cooling plants for owners who want space on the basin's open ground, outside the Midland and Odessa core. The region is large and sparse, so every project begins with distance: how far to the substation, how far to the fiber, how far to the nearest concrete plant and how far a crane operator or electrician has to drive. We answer those questions in the first week, with a map and a schedule, before design hardens around assumptions that the site cannot support.

Wikipedia describes the Permian Basin as covering more than 86,000 square miles, having averaged 4.2 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2019, and having Midland, Odessa and San Angelo as headquarters for much of the oil activity. For a builder, the numbers mean two things. There is a deep local industry of heavy contractors and equipment, and there is a landscape where most infrastructure was built for oil and gas rather than computing. Data center owners adapt the second to fit the first, and our job is to make that adaptation practical.

This page covers the belt as a region. For the two principal cities, see Midland and Odessa, where our notes are specific to those markets.

Big Spring, according to Wikipedia, sits at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20, with I-20 running 40 miles west to Midland and 108 miles east to Abilene, and it is home to a refinery and several correctional facilities. Pecos, the seat of Reeves County, is described as a semiarid to desert city on Interstate 20 and U.S. 80 with average annual precipitation of about 10.48 inches and a record high of 118 degrees Fahrenheit. These are secondary sources, so we use them to orient, not to design.

Between them lie small towns, ranch land and oilfield sites. We can mobilize along the corridor, and we plan for each location with its own logistics. Owners who are comparing the belt with farther-east options can look at Abilene, which sits on the same interstate.

A record high of 118 degrees at Pecos and about ten inches of annual precipitation tell a mechanical engineer two things: summer ambient temperatures will push air-cooled equipment, and water is scarce. Dry air supports evaporative cooling, but water supply, quality and permits limit it, so owners often choose closed-loop, hybrid or dry cooling and accept a higher energy cost. The pads, piping and electrical feeds for these systems differ, which is why cooling selection must be settled early.

Dust and wind add to the picture. Filtration, positive pressure and sealed envelopes keep fine particles out of the data hall, and our cooling plant pad work includes drainage and wind screens. We also plan construction hours around heat to protect crews and fresh concrete.

The Railroad Commission has created seismic response areas in the basin. After a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in Reeves County on November 16, 2022, it expanded the Northern Culberson-Reeves Seismic Response Area from 2,366 to 2,601 square miles, with 78 active disposal wells, and operators agreed to cut deep-well disposal from 298,000 to 162,000 barrels per day by June 30, 2023. TexNet recorded seven earthquakes in northern Culberson and Reeves counties from November 8 through December 17, 2023, with magnitudes from 3.6 to 5.2, and the commission suspended deep disposal permits covering 23 wells, effective January 12, 2024.

The commission's Stanton Seismic Response Area page reports that after a magnitude 4.4 earthquake on April 10, 2024, operators committed to a further reduction of 29,000 barrels per day, for a combined 84,000 barrels per day, or 29 percent, since November 2023. A December 2023 notice also requires new and amended disposal well permits in Oil and Gas Districts 7C, 8 and 8A, and Fisher County, to report bottomhole pressure and daily injection volumes. These are oil and gas rules, not building rules, but they define the seismic context that owners and insurers consider. Our permitting and utility interconnection page covers the rules that do govern a data center.

Remote construction is expensive in specific ways: travel and lodging for workers, long hauls for concrete and steel, premium rates for specialty trades and the cost of temporary power and water. We separate these items in the estimate so the owner can see what the location adds. We also show the effect of design choices, such as prefabricated electrical rooms, that reduce field labor.

Power is a larger variable. A parcel far from a substation may need miles of new line, and the utility's cost sharing rules decide who pays. Senate Bill 6 adds study fees and financial commitments for loads of 75 megawatts and above. For owners who develop land ahead of users, real estate developers and site owners explains how we stage spending so that the large items follow a signed user.

We do not treat the basin as a single market. Each parcel gets its own review: utility, ground, water, access, insurance and neighbors. We prepare a one-page summary that lists the facts we have, the facts we need and the decisions the owner must make. That document becomes the basis for the schedule.

When the review is complete, we build in a sequence that suits distance. Long-lead equipment is ordered first, as discussed on long-lead equipment procurement, underground work is done while equipment is built and the shell goes up when the pad is ready. Commissioning is scheduled with the equipment suppliers' field staff, who also have a long drive, so we coordinate their visits to avoid repeat trips.

Smaller structures suit remote sites: a modular hall set on a prepared pad, a control building for an energy operator or an edge facility serving a field. The modular data center and edge data center pages describe these, and we build the pads, utilities and security around them.

Larger campuses are possible when power and water can be secured. Energy and power developers are natural partners, and our page on utilities and power developers describes how we work with them on interconnection, yards and on-site generation.

Tell us where the site is, how power will arrive and what the building must do. We will reply with a map-based review and a draft schedule.

Is it safe to build a data center in a seismic response area?

Safety depends on design, and the structural engineer sets the criteria after reviewing the site and the code. Owners should also discuss the exposure with insurers. We build equipment restraint, flexible connections and foundations to the specified criteria, and we document the work.

Are the seismic rules a restriction on data centers?

No. The Railroad Commission's actions concern oil and gas disposal wells, not buildings. They matter because they indicate where earthquakes have occurred and where operators are under reporting requirements. Data center permitting is governed by other rules.

How do we get power to a remote parcel?

The utility decides the route, voltage and schedule, and the owner may pay for extensions. We help by preparing site and load information, laying out the electrical yard and scheduling construction to match energization. For very large loads, state interconnection standards apply.

What is the best size for a first phase in a remote location?

Often the best first phase is the smallest one that serves the committed load and leaves room for more. Remote sites have high fixed costs, so a phase that is too small wastes mobilization, but one that is too large ties up capital. We model both.

Can cooling use produced or reclaimed water?

It may be possible, depending on water quality, permits and the cooling design. Treatment, corrosion and discharge rules matter. We coordinate with the owner's engineer, and we build the piping and storage once the design is set.