recent Rhodium Group assessment<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWe are not a gas power developer, but today, the only [proven] thing that could provide baseload power at this scale is gas complemented with batteries,\u201d Boland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the model Joulent is adopting for the Kilby development, which is intended as a blueprint for the multiple, GW-scale projects the company plans to build across the U.S. in the coming years. Eventually, Joulent plans to add \u201ca meaningful amount of solar,\u201d as well as a grid connection. The latter would be for reliability and inject power into the grid when possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[We have] no intention of using the grid to serve additional capacity, but we are building the physical infrastructure,\u201d Boland said. \u201cOver time, our turbines will occasionally need to be brought down for maintenance, and that may require some grid support, but it will be very short-term.\u201d The grid power consumed would be negligible compared to what Joulent plans to inject onto the grid when the data center is running at low utilization, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unencumbered by legacy ways, but backed by them\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because Joulent is new and laser-focused on large, AI data centers, Boland says it has an advantage over traditional power developers marketing their gas resources, old and new, to data centers. Those developers aren\u2019t used to building at the speed required by the AI era, he explained. They\u2019re also out of practice when it comes to building thermal generation, having in large part pivoted to renewables in the past ten years. Joulent, on the other hand, is \u201cnot biased by legacy ways of developing power,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joulent may be taking a different path from legacy developers like NextEra or Vistra, but it\u2019s nonetheless being validated by established players including hyperscalers, utilities, and developers. Adding to the contract with Microsoft and the close collaboration with Chevron, the National Grid investment, in particular, gives Joulent access to the balance sheet, expertise, and industry contacts of a major multinational utility company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe electrical side of these solutions is very complex,\u201d Boland said. \u201cAll the interfaces between the power plant and the data center, and the opportunity that exists in that space, are something that National Grid is extremely experienced in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In terms of the supply chain, the partnership allows Joulent to keep the advantage that the four GW of turbines gave it at the outset, by leveraging National Grid\u2019s relationships with vendors when it comes to high- and medium-voltage grid equipment, which have become \u201cthe longest lead time item in some ways, in the space,\u201d Boland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEPC contractors are often overlooked, but they are becoming the most acute supply chain issue in the industry,\u201d he added. That\u2019s another area where National Grid brings contacts and expertise: \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to get the attention of the big EPCs, those that can build these types of projects and attract skilled labor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Joulent hasn\u2019t announced the EPC contractor for its Kilby project yet, Boland says it\u2019s finalizing a contract with \u201ca brand name.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finalizing that contract, securing its air permits, and lining up project financing \u2014 which shouldn\u2019t be too hard given the 20-year PPA with Microsoft is already in place \u2014 are the last steps before it can break ground on the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are planning to achieve first power in 2028,\u201d Boland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo credit: Factory_Easy \/ Shutterstock Brian Boland was CFO at utility-scale energy developer BrightNight when he was approached…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21249],"tags":[2096,2099,8394,2580],"class_list":["post-89490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national-grid","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-data-centers","tag-energy-transition","tag-national-grid"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116974462211649701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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