Chaves County approves data center project amid rising demand for computing infrastructure

Wyoming-based Zenith Volts Corp. has chosen New Mexico for its flagship project — a 300-acre data center project.

Zenith, which says it develops carbon-negative energy infrastructures to power data and artificial intelligence applications, received approval from Chaves County commissioners for the project in August.

“Our goal is to pair renewable energy with advanced technology manufacturing and data center operations — creating sustainable economic growth while demonstrating that energy independence and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand,” Zenith Project Manager Nick Coleman wrote to the Journal.

Coleman said the data center will support 1.3 gigawatts of power and host over 600 server racks. However, that is only a fraction of the approved 8,400-acre site, located 20 miles south of Roswell.

The flagship campus, Coleman said, will also include a 250-acre battery storage system supporting 18 gigawatt-hours, on-site solar and natural gas generators, multiple data halls, a renewable energy operations hub and geothermal cooling systems. In the future, he said the site will house advanced manufacturing for energy components.

Zenith’s campus will rely on on-site solar and battery storage, with geothermal cooling loops and natural gas turbines ensuring grid stability. Coleman emphasized that the site will not connect to the grid, avoiding cost transfers to the general public — a “major issue” with some data centers. Zenith aims for the facility to be one of North America’s largest net-zero-carbon data centers.

The Roswell campus has an estimated $11.7 billion in capital investment, and the project could generate tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenue for Chaves County and New Mexico over the next five years, Coleman said.

Louis Jaramillo, Chaves County planning and zoning director, told the Journal that the county offered no incentives to Zenith ahead of approval.

During development, Zenith predicts it will offer up to 900 construction jobs. Once operational, the facility will have around 140 permanent jobs.

The first phase of construction, which will include the development of a solar farm and battery storage, is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, Coleman said. The site could be up and running by late 2027.

The Zenith project approval follows a recent pattern of developers looking to build data centers in New Mexico.

Last month, a Santa Teresa data center campus, nicknamed Project Jupiter, was named one of five sites integral to the $500 billion Stargate Project, an initiative led by Oracle, OpenAI and other U.S. tech companies looking to build some of the nation’s largest AI infrastructure. That project had an industrial revenue bond of $165 billion approved by Doña Ana County commissioners in September.

It also follows comments earlier this year from Economic Development Secretary Rob Black, who told a legislative committee in January that at least “a dozen companies that are looking to put data centers in New Mexico today.”

The state has nearly two dozen data centers operating or under development, according to Data Center Map.

Zenith will own and operate the campus, but Coleman said the company is still in discussion with several potential tenants.

“The need (for the project) arises from the rapidly growing demand for secure, U.S.-based data infrastructure capable of running AI and high-performance computing around the clock,” Coleman said. “We identified Roswell as ideal due to its high solar potential, stable geology, and the ability to integrate large-scale battery and geothermal systems for clean, continuous power.”