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Eni and Dubai’s Khazna Partner to Develop 500 MW Data Center Campus Near Milan

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Italian energy company Eni and Dubai-based Khazna have signed a preliminary agreement to jointly build a 500-megawatt (MW) data center campus in northern Italy, near Milan. The project is part of a larger Italy-UAE collaboration aimed at enhancing digital infrastructure, with plans to install up to 1 gigawatt of IT capacity throughout Italy.

The campus will be powered by “blue power,” which means electricity generated from an Eni gas plant equipped with carbon capture technology to minimize CO2 emissions, according to Eni.

Investment in Italy’s data centers is expected to double to 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion) during 2025-2026, compared with the previous two years, as major technology companies ramp up their spending, researchers from Milan’s Polytechnic University estimated earlier this year.

Chevron Advances Plans to Develop U.S. Data Centers with Power Generation

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Chevron is moving forward with plans to develop data centers in the U.S., entering the permitting and engineering phases for multiple sites, according to a company executive. These centers will also feature the generation of electricity, primarily powered by natural gas, to meet the growing demand from data centers across the country. The energy consumption of these facilities, which are large warehouses for servers, is expected to triple in the next three years as the need for artificial intelligence and computing power intensifies.

The Big Tech industry has already begun securing power purchase agreements to meet their massive electricity demands, with some companies buying power directly from nuclear plants or signing deals with utilities to add power generation to the grid. This surge in data center demand is shaking up the U.S. power industry, with record peak demand and a rise in natural gas consumption.

Chevron, alongside ExxonMobil, announced plans last year to start power generation specifically for data centers, marking a departure from their usual focus on supplying energy for their own operations. Daniel Droog, Chevron’s Vice President of Power Solutions, stated at the CERAWeek conference in Houston that there is “high customer interest” in this new venture.

With data centers growing larger—some now requiring 50 times more power than traditional facilities—Chevron is targeting the development of power plants and data center sites with capacities around 1 gigawatt (GW), expected to be operational by 2027 or 2028. Droog emphasized that speed, reliability, and scale are central to their strategy.

The company has not revealed specific customers or the exact locations of these future data centers but indicated that southern, western, and midwestern regions are likely targets. These centers will be primarily powered by natural gas, with some sites potentially incorporating carbon capture or renewable energy sources.

Natural gas, which was previously avoided by Big Tech due to climate concerns, has now become a favored option due to its relatively low cost and availability in the U.S., the world’s largest gas producer. The company is also set to receive seven GE Vernova gas turbines by 2026, to aid in the power generation process.

Climate Tech Firms Receive $80 Million to Capture Carbon from Paper Mills and Sewage Plants

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A group of climate-focused companies, including Google, H&M, and Stripe, are set to purchase $80 million worth of carbon credits from companies using innovative technologies to capture carbon emissions. These technologies target two industries: paper mills and municipal sewage treatment plants.

Carbon Capture Technologies in Action

The deals, facilitated by the Frontier coalition, involve the purchase of carbon credits from CO280 and CREW, two firms utilizing oil industry technology and natural processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

  • CO280 is using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology developed by SLB, a major oil field services company, to capture carbon emissions from paper mills. This process captures carbon initially absorbed by trees and emitted during paper production.
  • CREW, a startup from New Haven, Connecticut, employs a limestone-based method to capture carbon from wastewater at municipal sewage plants. By adding carbon-attracting limestone to water, CREW can calculate the amount of CO2 it traps as the water goes through treatment.

Financial Commitments for Carbon Removal

The Frontier coalition, which is composed of major players in the tech and finance sectors, including Google, H&M, and Stripe, aims to support emerging carbon capture technologies by purchasing carbon credits from firms that show promise in reducing atmospheric CO2.

  • The coalition has agreed to pay $48 million for 224,500 metric tons of emissions reductions from CO280, at a cost of $214 per metric ton.
  • Additionally, they will pay $32.1 million for 71,878 metric tons of emissions reductions from CREW, at a higher cost of $447 per ton.

These investments reflect the growing commitment of companies to support climate tech and scale carbon removal technologies, with the hope that costs will decrease over time, eventually making carbon capture more accessible.

A Push for Cost-Effective Carbon Removal

Although carbon removal technologies are still in the early stages, the Frontier coalition is betting on their potential to lower costs to $100 per ton or less in the future. Hannah Bebbington, Head of Deployment at Frontier, emphasized that the deals are part of efforts to retrofit older industries with newer carbon technologies. She expressed excitement about the possibility of scaling these technologies to make carbon removal more cost-effective and impactful.

The growing interest from major tech and finance companies is a signal of confidence in the potential of such technologies, even as the world grapples with the challenges of large-scale carbon emissions reduction.