The facts about Project Jupiter’s water usage

In southern New Mexico, water is a precious resource that touches everything. It touches families and businesses. It touches agriculture and the food we eat. It touches public health and safety. And ultimately, it touches the region’s long-term future.

We take our responsibility to preserve water very seriously, so we want to help clarify and correct the record about the Project Jupiter’s water use after recently updating the project’s power design.

The project will not use the community’s public drinking water to run the data center or the fuel cells. Drinking water will only be used for office purposes and will be on par with a typical office building.

First, lets talk about where this water is coming from. We’re treating non-potable well water from an existing New Mexico rights holder to both cool the data center and operate the fuel cells. This well water will be used for the initial fill of both systems and for the low volume of ongoing water to maintain them. Water from the well is unsuitable for drinking or municipal uses.

Second, our data center uses a closed-loop cooling system that recycles water without needing replenishment. Yes, some data centers use evaporative cooling require millions of gallons of water a day — this campus, along with all of Oracle’s large campuses, does not. In the closed-loop system used at Project Jupiter, the system requires a one-time fill of approximately 2.5 million gallons of non-potable water for each of the four data center buildings, over a period of 2-3 years.

The cooling liquid stays within sealed pipes and is repeatedly reused. Day-to-day cooling does not require any added water, and maintenance top-offs are minimal — approximately 0-1,000 gallons annually. Over a 15-year period, the one-time fill and annual maintenance equates to the water usage of approximately six U.S. households.

Third, Project Jupiter’s updated power plan will use fuel cell technology from Bloom Energy. About 960,000 gallons of water is required to support the system’s initial startup. The fuel cells generate electricity through a non-combustion process and require no water during normal operations.

We anticipate needing 167,000 gallons per year for long term fuel cell maintenance, which is less than the annual water usage of two U.S. households. On average over 15 years, the one-time fill plus the ongoing maintenance equates to the water usage of approximately three U.S. households per year.

It’s a negligible amount of water, especially in the context of the massive economic benefits the project will create for the county and the state, and without using any drinking water beyond standard office use.

Between initial fill and ongoing operations for both the data center and fuel cell system, we will use approximately 11 million gallons of nonpotable water for initial fill and about 168,000 gallons per year for maintenance. Over 15 years, this averages to the annual use of about nine U.S. households. By comparison, a typical golf course in desert climates requires anywhere from 120-200+ million gallons or more of water a year, or about 1,826 U.S. households a year.  

So does the project use water? Yes. Are we doing it responsibly and protecting New Mexico’s drinking water at all costs? 100% yes! This is responsible water use that comes with tremendous economic benefits for New Mexicans.

Learn more at ProjectJupiterTogether.com.