Fort Worth project highlights scale of data center expansion
While several Oklahoma cities are weighing proposals for $1 billion data centers, a much larger project proposed on the southeast side of Fort Worth, Texas, underscores how massive some developments tied to artificial intelligence and cloud computing have become.
According to reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, developers have proposed a $10 billion hyperscale data center campus, making it one of the largest known projects of its kind in the region.
Rezoning approval clears major hurdle
The developers, Black Mountain Power, recently obtained rezoning approval for approximately 400 acres from the Fort Worth Zoning Commission during a meeting held last week. The approval represents a key step in advancing the project, which requires large tracts of land and flexible zoning due to the infrastructure demands of hyperscale data centers.
The Star-Telegram reported that Black Mountain Power assembled the land through piecemeal acquisitions, filing multiple rezoning applications covering different parcels rather than pursuing a single request for the entire site.
Company background and development model
Black Mountain Power is described as a Fort Worth-based partnership of fossil fuel and mining companies and is reported to be a new arm of Rhett Bennett’s Black Mountain family of companies.
The firm’s focus is on developing what it calls “powered-land” sites — large tracts of land pre-positioned for energy-intensive uses such as hyperscale data centers. These facilities require enormous and continuous power supplies, often driving interest in co-located or nearby generation resources.
Environmental concerns follow project
The Star-Telegram noted that Black Mountain Power has faced environmental pushback on other projects, reflecting a broader pattern seen across Texas, Oklahoma, and other states as communities grapple with the energy, land use, and environmental implications of large data center developments.
As data center proposals continue to emerge across Oklahoma and Texas, the Fort Worth project highlights the wide variation in scale, with some developments reaching levels that rival major industrial complexes in size, cost, and infrastructure demands.