NewYork GreenCloud has acquired the Buena Vista Biomass Power facility in Ione, California, and plans to convert the site into a ‘carbon-negative’ AI data center powered by on-site biomass.

The existing 18MW biomass power plant will be redeveloped into a 41MW facility, supplying behind-the-meter electricity to an on-site AI data center, which will utilize liquid-cooled GPU infrastructure. The company claims that the project will combine biomass-to-pyrolysis energy systems with high-density compute to reduce the carbon footprint of AI workloads.

Biomass pyrolysis converts organic waste materials into energy and biochar by heating them at high temperatures under low-oxygen conditions. Proponents claim that the process can not only supply clean energy but also permanently store carbon through the formation of biochar during pyrolysis.

“The Buena Vista Biomass Power facility is the beginning of a national platform of carbon-negative AI Factories,” said Joe Church, CEO of NewYork GreenCloud. “This facility will let us deliver high-performance compute with a dramatically lower carbon footprint.”

The redevelopment will be completed in partnership with BucSha Energy, which is providing the biomass-to-pyrolysis technology. According to the partners, the project will source regionally available biomass, including forestry and agricultural residues, to generate power and produce biochar, which will be used to sequester carbon. Several major hyperscalers have purchased carbon credits tied to biochar facilities, including Microsoft and Google.

"By focusing exclusively on regional biomass, we create a clean, stable, and scalable energy source that can power the modern AI infrastructure," said Dave Shaffer, founder of BucSha Energy.

The plant initially operated as a coal-fired facility, but was decommissioned in the mid-1990s. It was subsequently repowered as a biomass site in 2009. However, the plant dealt with significant financial hurdles and was left idled as a result.

Headquartered in Plattsburgh, New York, NewYork GreenCloud develops and operates what it describes as “carbon-negative AI factories,” integrating behind-the-meter renewable power, advanced cooling systems, and high-density GPU infrastructure for enterprise AI training and inference. The Ione data center will be the company’s first data center project.

The company was founded in 2024, and late last year announced a partnership with Atlas Cloud AI to host a dedicated cluster of 288 HGX B300 systems, featuring 2,304 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, at the Ione site. The agreement, which is expected to last four years, outlines full-scale deployment by February 2026 and an initial investment of $250 million.

BucSha Energy develops modular biomass-to-pyrolysis systems designed to convert sustainably sourced woody biomass and organic waste into baseload energy, biochar, and carbon removal products.