⚠ Disclaimer: This section may contain incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate entries. It is AI-maintained on a best-effort basis. Do not rely on it as a sole source — verify claims independently using the source materials listed in individual entries.
Overview
Power availability has displaced fiber connectivity as the primary datacenter site selection constraint. A 1 GW campus (now routinely announced by hyperscalers) requires as much electricity as a medium-sized city. Grid interconnection queues in the US now run 4–7 years in many regions, forcing operators to source power through alternative pathways: behind-the-meter natural gas turbines, nuclear power purchase agreements (PPAs), and — increasingly — commitments to small modular reactors (SMRs). The energy intensity of AI workloads (GPU clusters running 24/7 at near-maximum utilization) also eliminates the load variability that traditional demand-response programs relied on, making power infrastructure planning more deterministic but also more demanding.
Key Themes
- Grid interconnection delays (4–7 years in constrained US markets) forcing behind-the-meter power sourcing
- Natural gas combustion turbines as the near-term solution for large campuses — faster to permit and build than grid upgrades
- Nuclear PPAs: Microsoft (Three Mile Island restart), Amazon (Susquehanna), Google (Kairos Power SMR) — establishing nuclear as a mainstream datacenter power source
- SMRs: NuScale (cancelled first project), TerraPower, X-energy, Kairos Power all pursuing datacenter-adjacent deployments; 2030–2035 timeframe realistic for first commercial SMR datacenter power
- Battery energy storage (BESS): used primarily for ride-through and UPS replacement rather than capacity; LFP-based BESS replacing traditional VRLA UPS in new builds
- PUE implications of power sourcing: behind-the-meter gas turbines have waste heat that can improve facility ERE (Energy Reuse Effectiveness) if captured
- “24/7 clean power” vs. REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) accounting — a significant integrity gap in sustainability claims
Companies
Startups & Development Partners
| Company | HQ | Stage | Mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kairos Power | Alameda, CA, USA | Late Private | Molten salt-cooled fluoride high-temperature reactor (FHR); Google signed first commercial SMR power purchase agreement with Kairos (December 2023); first unit targeting 2030. |
| X-energy | Rockville, MD, USA | Late Private | Xe-100 pebble bed high-temperature gas-cooled reactor; Amazon Web Services announced investment and power agreement (2023). |
| TerraPower | Bellevue, WA, USA | Late Private (Bill Gates-backed) | Natrium sodium fast reactor; Wyoming plant under construction (DOE funded); not specifically datacenter-focused but relevant as near-term SMR. |
| Bloom Energy | San Jose, CA, USA | Public (NYSE: BE) | Solid oxide fuel cells for on-site power generation; growing datacenter deployments as behind-the-meter alternative; Microsoft and other hyperscalers as customers. |
Public Companies
| Ticker | Company | Mission |
|---|---|---|
| BE | Bloom Energy | Fuel cell power for datacenters; on-site generation avoiding grid interconnection delays; natural gas or hydrogen-ready. |
| CEG | Constellation Energy | Largest US nuclear fleet operator; Three Mile Island Unit 1 restart (Crane Clean Energy Center) for Microsoft 20-year PPA; direct nuclear-to-datacenter contracting model. |
| VST | Vistra Corp | Power generation including nuclear (Comanche Peak); pursuing datacenter PPAs; large Texas power generation footprint relevant to AI datacenter clustering in Texas. |
Incumbents
| Ticker | Company | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| ETN | Eaton | UPS systems, PDUs, busway, switchgear, and transformers for datacenter power distribution; Electrical Americas backlog grew 31% YoY to a record $13.2B in Q4 2025; direct beneficiary of DPA grid determination (Apr 2026). |
| HPS.A | Hitachi Energy | Largest global transformer manufacturer (parent: Hitachi Ltd, TSE: 6501); $43B backlog as of early 2026 (up from $14B three years prior); large transformer lead times 40 months; $6B committed capacity expansion; CEO warned sector is “overwhelmed”; primary bottleneck for large-campus datacenter grid interconnection. Trades as HPS.A on TSX (Hitachi Energy Canada); primary operations under Hitachi Ltd globally. |
| SCHN | Schneider Electric | Galaxy UPS, PDUs, busway, DCIM power monitoring; largest legacy datacenter power infrastructure vendor. |
| VRT | Vertiv Holdings | UPS (Liebert), power distribution, DC power; significant AI datacenter power infrastructure exposure; see Vertiv entry. |
| GEV | GE Vernova | Gas turbines, transformers, grid interconnection equipment; $2.4B in datacenter electrification orders in Q1 2026 alone; ~20% of 100 GW backlog tied to datacenter load; DPA determination direct beneficiary. See GE Vernova BTM entry. |
Supply Chain
Power Sourcing Options and Trade-offs
| Source | Time to Power | Cost | Carbon Profile | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grid interconnection (utility) | 4–7 years (US constrained markets); transformer lead time now 24–40 months embedded in this | Lowest ongoing cost | Depends on grid mix | Constrained by queue |
| Behind-the-meter natural gas turbine | 2–3 years | Moderate capex, fuel cost | Carbon-intensive unless CCS | Broadly available |
| Nuclear PPA (existing plant) | 1–2 years (contract negotiation) | Premium pricing | Carbon-free 24/7 | Limited to operators near plants |
| Onsite fuel cells (Bloom Energy) | 12–18 months | High capex, fuel cost | Lower carbon than grid average (nat gas) | Broadly available |
| SMR (small modular reactor) | 8–12 years (development + construction) | Unknown (first-of-kind premium) | Carbon-free 24/7 | 2030–2035 earliest |
| Solar + BESS | 2–3 years | Moderate | Carbon-free when generating | Intermittent; BESS required for 24/7 |
Key Supply Chain Notes
Transformer shortage: Large power transformers (>100 MVA) now carry lead times of 24–40 months from major manufacturers (Hitachi Energy, Eaton, GE Vernova). Hitachi Energy CEO Andreas Schierenbeck has warned the transformer sector is “overwhelmed” — the company’s backlog reached $43B in early 2026, up from $14B three years prior, with lead times for large units at 40 months despite a committed $6B capacity expansion. This is a binding constraint for large campus buildout — the transformer must be ordered before site selection is finalized. Transformer manufacturing capacity is limited and primarily located in the US, Germany, and South Korea. Chinese transformer manufacturers (TBEA, CHINT) are not typically used in US datacenter supply chains for security reasons.
Defense Production Act — Grid Infrastructure (April 2026): On April 20, 2026, President Trump issued a Presidential Determination under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act, formally designating US power grid infrastructure as essential to national defense. The determination authorizes federal purchases, purchase commitments, and financial support for domestic production of transformers, high-voltage circuit breakers, conductors, capacitor banks, electrical core steel, substation equipment, and power control electronics. The White House finding stated that “America’s inadequate energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy” and that “domestic capability for development, manufacturing, and deployment of large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure is essential to United States national defense.” This was accompanied by a parallel DPA determination covering broader energy sector supply chains. The direct impact on near-term lead times is uncertain (analysts at S&P Global noted implementation mechanisms take time to deploy), but the order is a significant policy signal for domestic manufacturing investment and a catalyst for grid equipment suppliers (GEV, ETN, HPS.A). Published in the Federal Register April 23, 2026: Presidential Determination 2026-10.
Three Mile Island restart precedent: Microsoft’s 20-year PPA with Constellation for the Crane Clean Energy Center (restarted TMI Unit 1) established the template for large-scale nuclear datacenter contracts. The deal (announced September 2023, plant restarted September 2024) demonstrated that existing nuclear facilities can be commercially restarted specifically to serve datacenter demand. Watch for similar restart announcements at other prematurely shuttered plants (Palisades, Duane Arnold).
LFP displacing VRLA in UPS: Traditional valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries in datacenter UPS systems are being replaced by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery systems in new builds. LFP offers longer cycle life, smaller footprint, faster charge acceptance, and no off-gassing. Eaton, Schneider Electric, and Vertiv all offer LFP UPS options. This creates overlap with the energy/batteries supply chain — the same CATL, BYD, and Samsung SDI cell manufacturers supplying EV and grid storage are supplying LFP UPS batteries.
⚑ Shared supply chain — LFP cells: LFP cells for datacenter UPS/BESS from CATL and BYD are the same cells used in grid-scale storage and increasingly in AMR robot batteries (see robotics/power-systems). A supply crunch in LFP cells would simultaneously affect datacenter UPS infrastructure, grid storage deployments, and industrial robotics.