Joulent Secures $1.75 Billion From National Grid to Build Multi-Gigawatt Power Infrastructure for AI Data Centers

As the artificial intelligence boom collides with the physical constraints of America's aging electrical grid, the utility sector is fundamentally rewriting how it funds and delivers power. On Wednesday, National Grid Ventures—the commercial arm of UK-based utility giant National Grid plc—announced a $1.75 billion investment to acquire a 35% stake in Joulent, a Houston-based energy infrastructure startup. The blockbuster deal marks a massive bet on dedicated, off-grid power generation designed specifically to feed the insatiable energy appetites of hyperscale data centers, bypassing the traditional utility bottlenecks that threaten to slow the global AI race.[1][2]

Joulent, which was recently launched by the investment firm Engine No. 1 in collaboration with energy technology company GE Vernova, operates on a novel model it calls 'Across-the-Meter' generation. Rather than waiting years in traditional utility interconnection queues to draw power from the public grid, Joulent builds modular power plants directly adjacent to massive industrial loads. This co-located approach integrates natural gas generation, battery storage, and advanced smart controls to deliver firm, baseload electricity directly to tech campuses. By generating power exactly where it is consumed, the company effectively eliminates the need for sprawling new transmission lines and bypasses the regulatory gridlock that has stalled countless tech infrastructure projects.

The centerpiece of the new partnership is Project Kilby, a massive 2.67-gigawatt generation campus currently under development in the arid plains of West Texas. Being built in a 50/50 joint venture with Chevron Corporation, the facility is engineered from the ground up to supply electricity to a sprawling Microsoft-operated data center campus. The tech giant has already locked in the facility's output under a comprehensive 20-year power purchase agreement, underscoring the extraordinary lengths to which hyperscalers will go to secure reliable, long-term energy for their multi-billion-dollar AI training clusters.[1][4]

Project Kilby has already secured its critical equipment and engineering capacity, aiming to deliver its first power to Microsoft by 2028. GE Vernova will supply the bulk of the plant's turbine capacity, supplemented by specialized hardware from Solar Turbines, a subsidiary of construction giant Caterpillar. By locking down the highly constrained supply chain for heavy electrical equipment early, Joulent aims to bridge the glaring gap between the rapid deployment speed demanded by software companies and the notoriously sluggish, multi-year timelines of conventional energy infrastructure development.[1][3]

The urgency driving the National Grid investment is rooted in a stark macroeconomic reality: artificial intelligence is reshaping global energy markets at an unprecedented pace. According to industry data, electricity demand from data centers powering generative AI services surged by 17% in 2025, vastly outpacing the modest 3% growth seen in overall global electricity consumption. For technology companies racing to build the next generation of supercomputers, the primary bottleneck is no longer securing advanced silicon chips or venture capital, but simply finding the raw megawatts required to turn the servers on.[1]

"Leadership in the AI era will be determined by who can deliver energy and compute the fastest, most reliably, and at the lowest cost," said Chris James, founder and CEO of Joulent. James emphasized that building independent, scalable power facilities allows the technology industry to fuel American innovation without shifting the massive capital costs of grid upgrades onto local ratepayers. This model ensures that residential communities do not face spiking utility bills or the risk of rolling blackouts caused by the sudden arrival of a gigawatt-scale data center in their county.

For National Grid, the $1.75 billion injection represents a highly disciplined entry into one of the fastest-growing segments of the United States economy. Zoë Yujnovich, Chief Executive of National Grid, characterized the move as a "partner-led investment in contracted critical infrastructure for the AI-driven large load economy." The utility expects the Joulent partnership to yield highly predictable cash flows and attractive risk-adjusted returns, projecting that the Texas-based startup will become free cash flow positive by the early 2030s as its initial fleet of power plants comes online.[1]

The financial structure of the deal reflects National Grid's broader strategic pivot toward high-growth, unregulated infrastructure. The massive investment is entirely incremental to the company's existing five-year capital expenditure program—which totals at least £70 billion (roughly $90 billion) through fiscal year 2031—and will be funded through available capacity on its corporate balance sheet. A final investment decision on the Joulent stake is expected by the end of 2026, marking a rapid deployment of capital for a traditionally slow-moving utility.[1][2]

Financial markets reacted with cautious optimism to the transatlantic capital deployment. While National Grid's London-listed shares experienced a slight 1.4% dip following the announcement amid a broader European bond market selloff, financial analysts broadly praised the strategic rationale. Analysts at Morningstar noted that the deal provides National Grid with highly attractive, direct exposure to the booming U.S. data center market, successfully diversifying its revenue portfolio beyond the strict confines of traditional regulated utility returns. The move signals to investors that legacy grid operators can successfully capture the upside of the AI revolution without bearing the technology risk of the software itself.[1][3]

Beyond the immediate capital injection, the partnership is designed to leverage National Grid's deep operational expertise in high-voltage networks and complex system integration. While Joulent's initial facilities will operate largely independent of the public grid, the company's long-term roadmap includes a pathway toward full grid interconnection. Over time, these massive co-located power plants could provide exportable power back to the public grid during periods of peak residential demand, effectively transforming energy-hungry data centers from grid liabilities into vital grid stabilization assets.

The Joulent deal is part of a much wider data center connection program for National Grid, which anticipates connecting more than 10 gigawatts of new demand across the United States and the United Kingdom over the next five years. As the artificial intelligence arms race accelerates, the traditional utility model is rapidly evolving to meet the moment. Partnerships like the one between National Grid, Joulent, Chevron, and Microsoft demonstrate that the future of global technology infrastructure will require unprecedented, multi-billion-dollar collaboration between Silicon Valley, legacy energy producers, and international grid operators.[1][4]