Nadia Partners is the latest private equity underwriter (PEU) to find West Texas attractive for investment. Affiliate Beacon AI Centers will hold a public meeting this evening to talk about their AI data center in Dove Creek.
I doubt any Nadia Partner will show. They may be toasting from a considerable distance (Canada). Beacon staff will entertain West Texans with their "massive scale." Residents should be concerned about the scale of water usage and electrical power. Will those be massive as well?
According to ERCOT, two power projects are currently under development, Dove Creek Solar and Dove Creek Power. It's not clear who is behind those, however Nadia has an affiliate that does both solar power and battery backup (Dromore Energy).
Big money is behind Nadia, Beacon, Dromore and Nadia Partners' other affiliates (mostly AI). Beacon's co-chair is a former Managing Partner and Chief Technology Officer for The Blackstone Group.
The State of Texas tilts toward corporations over citizens. It's rules on surface water are a language in an of itself and favor water rights holders who regularly exercise those rights. The only excess surface water in Texas is essentially flood water.
Beacon's project is near two creeks, Spring Creek and Dove Creek. Their land likely has water rights to Spring Creek and its Rust Reservoir.
I wonder if Beacon executives realize downstream water users tend not to fare well, especially during our hot, dry summers when those rights are not accessible.
That means punching a bunch of holes in the ground which can and likely will lower the water table. Will it drop enough to stop all creek flow? That's the worry. especially if the project doubles or triples the local population during building/power plant construction.
So raise a glass of fracking fluids to Nadia, Blackstone other big name investors and their facilitator, the State of Texas. That's what our wells may be producing in ten years.
Update 4-16-26: The community of Dove Creek expressed their near universal opposition to the Beacon AI data center. County Commissioner Shawn Nanny closed public feedback by joining his constituents in opposing the project.
