Project Jupiter gives a sneak peak

Boarding a bus for the short ride to the largely closed-off construction site just north of the U.S.-Mexico border near Santa Teresa, I wasn’t sure what awaited us at the drop-off point.

We passed a line of cars — construction workers headed home at the end of the day — as we entered what Oracle Executive Vice President Mahesh Thiagarajan described as a 700-acre campus, the equivalent of more than 500 football fields. It was our first look at the expansive data center development known as Project Jupiter. The scale of the site was overwhelming.

And representatives of Oracle and STACK Infrastructure say the massive undertaking is still building toward its peak.

During the first media tour of the construction site Tuesday, Oct. 13, company officials described a project expected to employ as many as 7,000 construction workers before completion, with four huge data center buildings, a separate power-generation complex and infrastructure designed to limit water consumption.

The tour came on the same day Oracle announced a substantially increased projection of $13 billion in statewide economic output, a $1 million contribution to local flood recovery and a proposed agreement with El Paso Electric.

Thiagarajan, who oversees Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, joined STACK executives Mike Casey and Josh Timberlake in leading reporters through the planned microgrid site, an equipment staging area and Building A, the first of four planned data center buildings.

At the staging area, Casey, STACK's chief operating officer, described the enormous workforce and the logistical demands of coordinating construction on such a large scale.

Nearly 4,400 construction workers have been employed on the project to date, including more than 1,200 New Mexico residents and approximately 630 from Doña Ana County. More than 1,800 union members have worked on the project.

Casey said the company is also moving forward with permanent employment, having already hired 91 data center operations employees. Starting wages for those jobs are approximately $40 an hour, with benefits and a 12-week training program available to prepare workers.

"You don't necessarily need to have any data center experience," Casey said. "The best part is we train."

Environmental considerations were another major emphasis of Tuesday's tour.

At the planned microgrid site, Thiagarajan discussed Oracle's decision to replace an earlier combustion-based power-generation design with Bloom Energy fuel-cell technology. He said the new approach significantly reduces emissions and eliminates the need for continuous water consumption associated with the earlier design.

The proposed microgrid, designed to generate approximately 2.4 gigawatts of electricity, remains subject to state air-quality permitting.

Later, standing outside Building A, STACK Senior Vice President Josh Timberlake explained the closed-loop cooling system designed to remove heat from the servers without a continuous supply of replacement water.

Timberlake compared the system to a car radiator or residential air conditioner, although on a vastly larger scale. Cooling fluid is introduced into the system and then circulates continuously throughout operations.

He said no potable water would be used to cool the servers. Potable water would still be required for drinking fountains, restrooms and other domestic purposes.

Timberlake said the combined operational water use of the data centers and microgrid, including their initial cooling-system fills, is expected to be less over 15 years than the average water consumption of nine U.S. households during the same period.

"We know that's an extremely important consideration for New Mexico as a whole and for Doña Ana County specifically," Timberlake said.

Company officials also outlined plans for a public environmental reporting system that would make information about air emissions, water consumption, heat, noise and light available to the community. Thiagarajan said third-party experts would be involved in assessing environmental performance, providing information beyond what is required through regulatory oversight.

The project's economic projections have also increased substantially.

Oracle announced Tuesday that an updated analysis by Mangum Economics estimates Project Jupiter will generate more than $13 billion in statewide economic output during construction and its first 17 years of operations. The previous estimate, released in July, was $4.7 billion.

The new estimate reflects updated projections for employment, infrastructure investment and the project's operational capacity. Once fully operational, the development is projected to generate approximately $560 million annually in direct economic output in Doña Ana County.

The company also expects the completed development to support more than 3,100 jobs countywide, including approximately 1,500 direct project-supported positions and additional employment generated through local businesses and services.

Oracle separately announced a $1 million contribution toward flood recovery to be managed through a fund with the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, following recent flooding that damaged homes and infrastructure throughout the county.

The announcements drew concerns earlier Tuesday during Oracle's presentation to the Doña Ana County Commission. Commissioners expressed frustration that information about the new commitments was provided shortly before the meeting, despite requests for advance materials.

Commissioners also questioned a proposed agreement with El Paso Electric that would provide electricity for late-stage construction, emergency backup and safety-related needs. Under the proposal, Oracle would pay at least $100 million over 10 years for electricity, regardless of whether it uses the full contracted amount. Oracle separately proposed credits of up to $55 million annually for three years for New Mexico residential and small-business electric customers.

The proposal raised questions about earlier commitments that Project Jupiter would generate its own electricity rather than rely on the regional grid.

During the afternoon media news conference, Thiagarajan emphasized that the agreement remained a proposal and said Oracle would work with commissioners to address their concerns before moving forward.

The issue was one of several questions about public trust raised during the news conference, at which Thiagarajan was also asked about criticism of the project's transparency and an investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office.

He defended Oracle's approach, saying the company had responded to public concerns by changing its power-generation plans, prioritizing local employment and committing to more extensive environmental monitoring.

He also pointed to the company's previously announced $50 million commitment to water infrastructure, contracts awarded to New Mexico businesses and efforts to train local workers as evidence of progress on commitments made to the community.

The tour provided a glimpse of a project already taking physical shape on an extraordinary scale. Thousands of workers, sprawling infrastructure and massive buildings testify to the progress already made.

But as construction continues, Oracle's larger promises, from economic opportunity and environmental protection to transparency and public accountability, remain works in progress, with their ultimate impact still to be measured.