National Grid Ventures to invest $1.75bn to accelerate power solutions for U.S. data centers and AI
National Grid Ventures (NGV), the commercial arm of National Grid plc, has agreed to invest $1.75 billion for a 35% stake in Joulent LLC, forming a broad strategic partnership to develop contracted power and electrical infrastructure solutions for U.S. large load demand.
Zoë Yujnovich, Chief Executive of National Grid, 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 with strong partners. It extends National Grid's core strengths of investing in long-duration infrastructure with predictable 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."
Rising demand from data centers and other power-intensive industries is driving the need for dedicated, scalable power — often outpacing the timelines of traditional grid connections. This investment is consistent with National Grid's ambition to pursue selective critical infrastructure growth opportunities emerging from the transforming energy landscape, and marks NGV's entry into one of the fastest-growing areas of electricity demand.
Joulent has built the capabilities, partnerships and resources to develop integrated power solutions for U.S. large load customers, including data centers, helping to 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 near-term large load power demand, supporting economic growth without shifting costs onto local communities, while enabling a longer-term path to grid connection.
NGV's investment will enable the development of Joulent's foundational project, Project Kilby (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 center 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 by 2028.
Noelle Walsh, Microsoft President of Cloud Operations + Innovation, said, "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-gigawatt pipeline of future projects that could provide incremental growth over time.
This strategic partnership is intended to extend beyond capital, with National Grid enhancing Joulent through its deep operational capabilities, including expertise in high-voltage networks, system integration and balancing, infrastructure development and project execution. The partnership is also expected to provide insights and relationships that can strengthen National Grid's data center connection program, where it expects to connect more than 10 GW of demand across the U.K. and U.S. over the next five years.
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The investment is incremental to National Grid's existing five-year capital investment program of at least £70 billion (approximately $90 billion) through 2031 and will be funded through the Group's balance sheet headroom, with a final investment decision expected in 2026. It reflects a disciplined, long-term approach to supporting the energy systems of the future.
