SpaceX Terafab power plants plan calls for gas and battery storage

SpaceX Terafab power plants are set to be fueled by natural gas, according to company officials, with large battery arrays added to store energy. For investors watching SpaceX and Tesla’s planned Texas semiconductor project, the disclosure puts self-supplied electricity, rather than a disclosed solar installation, at the center of the project’s power plan.

Riley Trettel, who oversees energy and data-center development for SpaceX, told a public meeting in Grimes County on Wednesday that the company would supply its own power. Bloomberg reported that Trettel said SpaceX plans to build natural-gas-fired plants alongside large battery arrays.

Terafab is a proposed semiconductor facility SpaceX is developing in Texas with Tesla. Bloomberg described it as a planned 100 million-square-foot combined facility. TechCrunch reported that it is intended to make chips for data centers run by SpaceX and its xAI subsidiary.

How will SpaceX power Terafab?

The stated plan is on-site natural-gas generation plus batteries. Gas-fired plants generate electricity by burning natural gas. Battery arrays can hold electricity for later use, though SpaceX has not disclosed their capacity, technology, supplier, timetable or the source of the electricity used to charge them.

Tesla is a Terafab partner and develops solar products, but TechCrunch found no mention of terrestrial solar in Bloomberg’s report or in the SpaceX announcements it reviewed. That means solar has not been included in the power plan disclosed so far; it does not establish that solar has been permanently ruled out.

At the local meeting, SpaceX representatives also said Terafab would not draw from the ERCOT grid in a way that increases costs for other ratepayers, KBTX reported. That is a company commitment, rather than an independently verified assessment of the project’s eventual effect on the grid or consumer bills.

ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, says it manages the flow of electricity for more than 27 million customers, representing about 90% of Texas electric load. The group also says it schedules power across the regional grid. A project that supplies its own generation could manage its electricity needs internally, although SpaceX has not disclosed Terafab’s specific grid arrangements.

KBTX reported that SpaceX representatives selected the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site in Grimes County partly because of access to fuel for power generation and the reservoir’s water-storage capacity. The company said construction could begin within months, which remains a project projection rather than a completed milestone.

Key details needed to assess Terafab’s environmental and grid effects, including plant capacity, emissions controls, permits and final grid arrangements, were not disclosed in the reporting available.

This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.