National Grid has announced that National Grid Ventures (NGV) has agreed to invest $1.75 billion to secure a 35% interest in Joulent LLC, as part of a broader strategic partnership.
Joulent will focus on developing contracted power generation and high voltage infrastructure for US large load customers, providing integrated solutions to help meet rapidly rising demand for reliable, scaled power at speed.
The investment is consistent with National Grid's ambition to pursue select critical infrastructure growth opportunities emerging from the transforming energy landscape.
The strategic partnership is also expected to provide insights and relationships that can strengthen National Grid's existing data centre connection programme, where it expects to connect >10GW of data centre demand across the UK and US over the next five years.
NGV's investment will enable the development of Joulent's foundational project, Project Kilby, in a 50/50 partnership with Chevron Corporation. Kilby is a 2.67 GW co-located power facility in West Texas that will provide dedicated electricity to a Microsoft-operated data centre campus under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Development of the project is at an advanced stage with secured critical equipment including GE Vernova turbines and reserved EPC capacity, and it is targeting first power delivery in 2028.
Noelle Walsh, Microsoft President of Cloud Operations + Innovation, commented:
"AI and cloud are advancing at a pace that requires closer coordination between energy and infrastructure, and we welcome National Grid Ventures' experience and capabilities in helping address this challenge and support reliable, high-performance compute at scale."
Joulent also has a multi-GW pipeline of future projects, that could provide incremental growth opportunity over time.
Joulent has built the capabilities, partnerships and resources to develop integrated power solutions for US large load customers, including data centres, which can accelerate speed-to-power. These solutions include co-located gas generation, battery storage, renewables integration and 'Across-the-Meter' grid connections. Joulent's solutions are designed to scale quickly to meet the near-term large load demand for power that will support economic growth, without shifting the cost of that growth onto local communities, and ultimately will enable the longer-term path to a grid connection.
Commenting on the strategic partnership, Zoë Yujnovich, NGV Chief Executive said:
"Our investment in Joulent is a disciplined, partner-led investment in contracted critical infrastructure for the AI-driven large load economy. Through National Grid Ventures, we are gaining exposure to a major source of electricity demand growth that diversifies our regional US exposure and is supported by strong partners. It extends National Grid's core strengths of investing in long-duration infrastructure with contractual cash flows and attractive risk-adjusted returns."
Chris James, Founder and CEO of Joulent said:
"This investment from National Grid Ventures strengthens Joulent's ability to deliver reliable, large-scale power on the timelines AI infrastructure and advanced industry now requires. We are building an independent company designed for speed, scale and execution, without shifting the cost of that growth onto local communities, while also providing tailor-made and cost-competitive solutions for our customers."
The investment in Joulent provides access to long-term contracted cash flows that offer the opportunity to earn attractive risk-adjusted returns in excess of National Grid's regulated returns.