APR Energy Data Center, Pampa, Texas

APR Energy planned an 800-acre, 400-megawatt data center at Pampa, in Gray County, Texas, powered by natural gas turbines on site rather than the grid, with local business backing in June 2025 and a first phase originally slated for early 2026. The project's future is uncertain: Elon Musk bought APR Energy in a deal cleared by the Federal Trade Commission in May 2026, and Data Center Dynamics reported in July that it is unclear whether the Pampa data center will go ahead.

APR, a Jacksonville, Florida company that deploys mobile gas turbines, said it picked Pampa for its access to water, fiber and natural gas, and that the data center could consume up to 1.5 million gallons of water a day. The Texas State Water Plan estimates new data centers statewide could lead to a nine million acre-foot water shortfall within a decade, Data Center Dynamics reported.

Gray County commissioners required a different Pampa data center, Intersect's Meitner project, to use cooling that does not rely on water as a condition of its tax abatement, Mayor Mike Borger said; APR's plan makes no such commitment. On September 21, 2026, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing new data center permits until the state's grid operator, ERCOT, and the Texas Water Development Board finish auditing the industry.

The new owner's record with gas turbines has drawn scrutiny elsewhere: Musk's xAI ran as many as 35 turbines without permits at its Memphis data centers, prompting a Clean Air Act lawsuit. As of July 2026, it remained unclear whether Musk's company would build the Pampa data center at all.