Chevron, GE Vernova and Engine No. 1 United to Provide Gas-Fired Power Directly to New Data Centers
Integrated oil and gas producer Chevon USA is going to partner with reindustrialization investment firm Engine No. 1 and gas turbine manufacturer GE Vernova to build a new company focused on creating gas-fired power plants dedicated to directly energizing the nation’s expanding data center footprint.
The aim of the new GE-Chevron-Engine No. 1 partnership is to construct a first-ever GW-scale power plant co-located with a data center and do it well before the end of President Trump’s second term. The president recently issued an executive order temporarily freezing some renewable energy project funding allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act but is touting fossil fuel production.
Meanwhile, the anticipated future growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based data capacity is pushing for expansion of power generation to serve up to 50 GW of new load by the end of the decade, according to reports.
“Early actions of the Trump Administration are setting the critical foundation to encourage investment leveraging America’s energy abundance to enable America’s AI leadership,” reads the press release by Chevron.
President Trump also issued a “national energy emergency” order to facilitate new drilling for oil and gas, although current production levels are near all-time highs.
“The companies’ plans directly address the need for affordable, reliable energy to meet the significant demand for electricity to power U.S. data centers, enabling current and future generations of AI to be developed in the U.S.,” the Chevron statement added.
Engine No. 1, the investment firm focused on reindustrialization of the U.S., is partnering with Chevron to create the new company.
How do Clean Energy Microgrids Stack Up for Data Center Needs?
“Energy is the key to America’s AI dominance,” Engine No. 1 founder and Chief Investment Officer Chris James said in a statement. “By using abundant domestic natural gas to generate electricity directly connected to data centers, we can secure AI leadership, drive productivity gains across our economy and restore America’s standing as an industrial superpower.
Co-located Gas Turbines and Carbon Capture
The first projects under the partnership are being referred to as “power foundries.” The early stages will utilize seven U.S-made GE Vernova 7HA natural gas-fired turbines under an accelerated timeline to complete projects by the end of Trump’s term in January 2029.
The initial projects are designed to generate up to four GW of gas-fired capacity and are expected to be in service by the end of 2027, according to the companies. The co-located data center power generation also may utilize carbon capture and storage technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Concerns around power generation resource adequacy to energize the domestic data center-AI expansion is leading some major tech firms to partner with utilities and small modular nuclear reactor startups to create dedicated power agreements for the future. Nuclear energy offers baseload capacity power, same as natural gas, but does produce carbon emissions.
Natural gas, which emits only half of the carbon dioxide generated by coal-fired plants, currently accounts for close to 40% of the nation’s utility-scale power generation resource mix. The U.S. also is the world’s largest producer of natural gas via shale plays such as the Permian Basin, and Marcellus and Bakken shales.
Total U.S. natural gas production last year averaged close to 3.8 trillion cubic feet per month, according to federal Energy Information Administration data.
Texas-based Chevron, one of the world’s biggest non-state-owned energy firms, produces millions of barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day, according to reports. The company has touted AI as helping it become more efficient in drilling and production.
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