Trucks, rail and aviation have been the main buyers of renewable diesel. Now a data center wants in.
Sabey Data Centers is testing hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as the primary fuel for the backup generators at its Austin, Texas campus. The company announced the pilot on October 29.
HVO is renewable diesel made by hydrotreating vegetable oils and waste fats, including used cooking oil. It runs in existing diesel engines with no modifications. That matters for a facility that can’t risk a generator failing during an outage.
Why backup power
Backup generators don’t burn much fuel in a typical year. But their emissions count as Scope 1, meaning they come directly from equipment the company owns, and Sabey calls them one of the harder sources to cut.
Feedstock matters
Sabey says it will track the feedstock behind the HVO it burns, because origin determines the climate benefit. It cites a 2022 Argonne National Laboratory study: renewable diesel from waste-based feedstocks cuts lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 79% to 86% compared with petroleum diesel. Crop-based feedstocks come in at 40% to 69%.
A buyer outside our industry is putting that gap in writing.
What comes next
This is a single-site pilot. If it works, Sabey plans to expand testing to its other data centers where fuel supply and operating conditions allow. Casey Mason, Sabey’s director of energy and sustainability, framed it as a test of whether the company can keep backup power reliable while cutting its impact on the surrounding community.
Why it matters
One pilot won’t move UCO prices. But every new sector that tests renewable diesel, and asks where the fuel came from, adds a buyer that values waste-based feedstock. For collectors and haulers, that is more demand pointed at the oil they pick up. For traders, brokers and processors, it’s an early read on a demand channel beyond road transport worth watching.
