Hybrid Cooling Technology for Thermal Power Being Explored for Fermi America’s 11GW Data Center Hub

     Billed as the world’s largest private energy grid, the Fermi America data center campus complex and energy hub, in the Texas panhandle, plans for 6 GW of combined-cycle natural gas power and four AP1000 nuclear units. That is quite a lot of thermal power. Thermal power requires significant amounts of cooling water.

     Fermi America recently signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hungarian power-cooling specialist MVM EGI Zrt. The collaboration will first involve engineering and feasibility studies for a set of indirect hybrid cooling towers. According to Interesting Engineering:

“The cooling design primarily uses air and closed-loop water circulation to reduce evaporative loss. The companies also plan to explore recycled water, underground reservoirs, and solar-covered retention ponds to further conserve resources.”

“MVM EGI has been on the cutting-edge of power cooling for more than half a century, maintaining the heritage of our founders, Professor László Heller and Professor László Forgó whom the high-capacity water-saving dry cooling systems are named after worldwide,” stated MVM EGI P.L.C. CEO Péter Kárpáti.

     According to the press release:

“The collaboration reflects both companies' commitment to transparent, community-oriented development. With billions of dollars in investment and a 99-year lease with the Texas Tech University System, Fermi America's business model is directly tied to the health of the Panhandle and the long-term sustainability of the Ogallala Aquifer. The MOU reinforces that alignment by putting water conservation at the core of the project's cooling strategy from day one.”

     For a project of this scope and size, an integrated water management and recycling system that limits evaporation will be a very important feature. I would guess that cooling water for the data centers could also be a part of the water management system.

     This is a very ambitious project that could become the largest data center campus in the world. However, with very high costs, initially in the billions, and the slow timeline of nuclear deployment, there is still some uncertainty as to how fast the project will proceed. Fermi notes that they expect to begin construction of the first cooling tower in January 2026, so very soon.

  

 

References

 

US: World’s largest 11 GW private energy grid opts for water-saving hybrid cooling. Sujita Sinha. Interesting Engineering. December 2, 2025. US: World’s largest 11 GW private energy grid opts for water-saving hybrid cooling

Fermi America and MVM EGI Announce Water-Saving Hybrid Cooling Agreement for World's Largest Private Energy Grid, Delivering on Promises Made to Protect West Texas Water Resources. PR Newswire. December 1, 2025. Fermi America and MVM EGI Announce Water-Saving Hybrid Cooling Agreement for World's Largest Private Energy Grid, Delivering on Promises Made to Protect West Texas Water Resources

Fermi signs MoU with MVM EGI to develop cooling systems for planned up to 11GW Texas data center campus: Will comprise a series of indirect cooling towers. Zachary Skidmore. Data Center Dynamics. December 1, 2025. Fermi signs MoU with MVM EGI to develop cooling systems for planned up to 11GW Texas data center campus - DCD