ERock Starts 366 MW El Paso Gas Plant for Meta as Q3 Revenue Hits $152.8M

ERock (Enchanted Rock) said on Nov. 12 that it has begun building the 366 MW El Paso Electric generation plant for Meta's data-center campus, as its third-quarter revenue rose to $152.8 million from $39.9 million in the second quarter.

The company reported net income of $8.9 million against a $67.7 million loss in the second quarter, in an earnings release filed with the SEC. Its chief financial officer, Ian Blakely, called it the first profitable quarter since the company went public. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, was $12.6 million, and gross margin was 22.9%. Power system sales revenue was $136.3 million. All of these figures are the company's own.

The El Paso plant is gas generation that would be dedicated to Meta's campus for its first five years, according to Inside Climate News. ERock said construction began on schedule, and chief executive John Carrington said the project remains on track for completion in mid-2027, a company target. Yet the Public Utility Commission of Texas has not ruled on it: the docket for the plant's certificate, which is what lets the utility build and charge for it, lists no final order as of Nov. 12.

What is being built, and for whom

Despite ERock's role, this is not a customer-owned microgrid. Inside Climate News, reporting on the regulatory case in September, described the McCloud facility as a utility-built plant that El Paso Electric would put in its rate base, made of 813 modular natural-gas generators of 450 kW each from Enchanted Rock, at an estimated cost of $499 million. The utility proposed ERock after Meta recommended the company. El Paso sits outside the ERCOT market, where utilities can still own power plants.

According to that report, the plant would serve only Meta for its first five years, with Meta subsidiary Wurldwide paying its capital and operating costs, and would then join El Paso Electric's wider system, at which point ratepayers could be asked to pay.

Bridge Power Versus a Microgrid at a Data Center

A microgrid is local generation and controls that act as one unit and can disconnect from the grid and run on its own. Bridge power is a narrower idea: on-site generation that serves a customer until its full grid connection is ready. No source read calls the El Paso plant either one, or says whether it can run islanded from the grid or what controls it uses.

The unit counts also need care. ERock's release gives the plant as 366 MW; Inside Climate News reports it as 813 generators of 450 kW each. ERock's 900 MW a year and 2.1 GW a year describe how many generators its factories could build annually, a company target, while its 1,104 MW installed base is equipment already in the field.

A plant ahead of its approval

The commission's filing list for Docket 59076 shows El Paso Electric applied on Dec. 8, 2025 to amend its certificate of convenience and necessity for a 366 MW natural-gas facility. The State Office of Administrative Hearings filed its proposal for decision on Sept. 23. As Inside Climate News reported, the administrative law judges recommended approval only if ratepayers bear none of the capital or operating costs, and denial otherwise; they also found the utility did not adequately weigh alternatives or seek competing bids. Parties filed exceptions on Oct. 13 and replies on Oct. 20. The most recent filing is dated Nov. 3, and the five commissioners have not yet voted.

For Meta, the stakes are timing. A mid-2027 completion would bring dedicated supply to the El Paso campus. It would not be Meta's only 2027 supply item: its 1,121 MW Clinton nuclear PPA in Illinois begins in June 2027, a separate purchase of a plant's output on another grid. If the commission denies the certificate or imposes the judges' condition, the plant's cost recovery would be open to question.

Backlog, factories and engines

ERock put its contracted power system sales backlog at about $1.6 billion at the end of September, down from about $1.7 billion at the end of June. It said more than $300 million of bookings added after the quarter closed set a new backlog record, without giving the new total or naming customers. Its installed base was 1,104 MW, unchanged from the second quarter.

To meet demand, the company is adding 900 MW a year of manufacturing capacity at a new Houston facility called Atlas, which it expects to lift its run-rate capacity to 2.1 GW a year in 2028. A long-block engine contract with HD Construction, whose new Korean engine plant Voltgrid covered in October, is meant to support larger volumes in 2028. ERock ended September with $549 million of unrestricted cash, no debt and an undrawn $250 million credit facility, and reaffirmed 2026 guidance of $435 million to $465 million in revenue.

What is not confirmed yet

The commission's final order on the McCloud certificate, and whether it attaches the judges' ratepayer condition, has not been issued; no vote date is listed. ERock did not say what work the construction start covers. The buyers behind the post-quarter bookings, the new backlog total and the cost and opening date of the Atlas plant were not disclosed, and no readable account of the company's Nov. 12 conference call was available at publication.