A Texas company is planning to build thousands of internal combustion engines south of Midland to provide power to an undisclosed “third party.”

Houston-based Enchanted Rock LLC, recently rebranded as “ERock,” applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for an air construction permit to build the Caprock Ranch Energy Facility in Midland County. This new gas-fired power plant would consist of 3,428 internal combustion engines capable of generating up to 1,543 megawatts of electricity.

The thousands of generators are meant to provide "bridge power" to a nearby "third party," possibly a data center, until the large power user can connect to the larger power grid. After that, ERock plans to transition providing backup power for its customer and serving as a grid-connected “peaking” plant that would operate during times of high electricity demand, according to the application.

If built, the plant could emit over 7 million tons of greenhouse gases every year, comparable to emissions from more than 1.5 million cars and trucks driven for a year. It could also emit over 3,000 tons of health-harming “criteria” air pollutants every year.

The TCEQ is currently accepting comments on the pending application. See the public notice for more information.