Crusoe Abilene Expansion · Abilene, TX
Last change recorded 2026-10-04 · Last checked 2026-10-04
Latest: First power (Epoch estimate) · First power · 2027-09-17 (plan) · recorded 2026-10-04
Crusoe's 900 MW campus for Microsoft next to Stargate Abilene: two 336 MW buildings and an on-site plant with MV battery storage; first building energization announced for mid-2027. The existing standard permit (approved 2025-01-22) covers 360 MW of turbines; a major TCEQ permit filed in July 2026 for 41 more turbines (about 1.4 GW) and 18 diesel gensets is not yet approved and residents won more time to contest it. Crusoe dropped its Boom turbine plan on 2026-09-25. · source ◐ secondary, confidence medium
Recorded readiness — 4 of 6 applicable milestones have a dated public record
Gate to first power — target 2027-06-30 (announced) · path: Hybrid: on-site bridge, then grid · each step must finish its lead time before the target
2 of 5 required steps have a public date. Red = recorded date past the rule-based deadline · grey "no public date" = required step without a record · green = on record in time · context steps never colour.
| Step | Must finish by | Others did it | Known date | Status | Basis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site secured (context) | 2026-03-28 (15 mo before) | 13 mo before (n=26) | 2026-03-27 | context | Campus announced · ● | |
| Permits in hand | 2027-06-28 (0 mo before) | 4 mo after (n=8) | 2025-01-22 | on record in time | TCEQ standard permit for 360 MW of turbines (ten units) at the existing campus · ◐ | |
| Grid supply agreed | 2026-09-28 (9 mo before) | 7 mo before (n=11) | no public date | no public date · would need to be done by 2026-09-28 | No date on record | |
| New generation online | 2027-05-28 (1 mo before) | 12 mo after (n=1) | no public date | no public date · would need to be done by 2027-05-28 | No date on record | |
| Major equipment on site | 2026-12-28 (6 mo before) | 9 mo after (n=1) | 2026-09-25 | on record in time | Crusoe drops plan for 29 Boom turbines · ● | |
| Construction started (context) | 2025-06-28 (24 mo before) | 29 mo before (n=15) | 2026-03-27 | context | Land clearing and site preparation underway · ● | |
| Building ready for IT | 2027-06-28 (0 mo before) | 2 mo after (n=7) | no public date | no public date · would need to be done by 2027-06-28 | No date on record |
Lead-time assumptions
- Site secured 15 months before first power — Land under control and campus announced. Rarely binding; shown for context.
- Permits in hand 0 months before first power — Final air and siting permits. Operators often energize on standard or temporary authorisations and receive the major permit later; flagged only when the permit lands more than 6 months after first power or is missing for an on-site plant.
- Grid supply agreed 9 months before first power — Interconnection or large-load agreement approved. Observed median 7 months before first power; the physical works (substation, lines) run in parallel with construction.
- Substation and lines energized 2 months before first power — Utility delivery point live; final tests before the load is taken.
- New generation online 1 months before first power — Utility plant or on-site plant generating; needed just before energization when the grid cannot carry the load alone.
- Major equipment on site 6 months before first power — Turbines, transformers, switchgear delivered; installation and commissioning take the remaining months.
- Construction started 24 months before first power — Groundbreaking of the building that gives first power. Observed 4-26 months for recent AI campuses; Meta's redesigned campuses took 35-58.
- Building ready for IT 0 months before first power — First building ready for IT. 'Complete' or 'opened' is usually reported after first power; flagged only beyond 3 months.
- Full build-out complete -12 months before first power — All announced buildings operational. Comes after first power by design; context only.
- Water supply secured 12 months before first power — Water rights, municipal agreement or desalination contract in hand. Context only; one of the feasibility items.
- Financing closed 12 months before first power — Project financing, anchor lease or committed capital announced. Context only; not applicable when the owner is a hyperscaler building on its balance sheet.
Dated steps (from the sources; later dates are plans)
Power equipment (from permits, filings and reporting; blank cells were not disclosed)
| Category | Make / model | Units | MW | Status | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gas turbine | — | — | 900 MW | planned | 2027-06-30 | Dedicated on-site power plant with a medium-voltage battery system for the 900 MW Microsoft campus; the July 2026 TCEQ filing covers part of it. Crusoe cancelled 29 Boom Supersonic turbines on 2026-09-25 · ● |
| battery storage | — | — | — | planned | 2027-06-30 | Medium-voltage BESS paired with the on-site plant · ● |
Build-out timeline (Epoch AI; dated status notes with IT power; rows after today are estimates)
Recorded fact No public date for grid supply agreed, new generation online, building ready for it.
Calculated requirement Grid supply agreed must finish by 2026-09-28; no public date is on record for it. Under the current rule set the recorded dates plus their lead times give a first power no earlier than 2027-06-30 (on the target). This is a floor set by the record, not a forecast.
Sources (Epoch AI selection): Bloomberg reporting that Oracle and OpenAI pulled out of expanding to these buildings, NVIDIA and Meta might replace them · Air Permit Application for the buildings, featuring blueprints on p.391 · Aterio · Partnership Announcement with Microsoft
Epoch AI, 'AI data centers', epoch.ai/data/ai-data-centers (CC BY 4.0); coordinates from GeoNames cities500 (CC BY 4.0) and hand-entered places; overrides in tools/project_overrides.csv with their own sources. Campuses outside the Epoch dataset come from tools/campuses.csv (public reporting, source per row). Data retrieved 2026-10-05. Report a correction to contact@ailoadmap.com (campus id crusoe-abilene-expansion; include the row and a source link).