INNIO Secures its Largest Contract Ever to Energize AI Data Centers with 2.3 GW of Jenbacher Power

The 2.3-GW order from VoltaGrid is made up of 92 power racks generating 25 MW each to provide prime and backup power. Among VoltaGrid's customers include cloud-based computing giant Oracle.
Oct. 24, 2025
3 min read

Key Highlights

  • This collaboration supports the growing need for additional power capacity, with predictions of a 125 GW increase over the next decade to sustain AI and data center expansion.
  • INNIO's engines are suitable for AI workloads and can improve efficiency by up to 10% through cogeneration advantages.
  • The partnership highlights the role of microgrids in decentralized energy solutions, addressing global energy transition challenges and supporting sustainable growth.
Rendering of OCI data center image credit VoltaGrid

Rendering of OCI data center image credit VoltaGrid

The insatiable demand to power artificial intelligence data centers of the near future is lifting longtime engine and cogeneration firm INNIO to its biggest contract ever.

U.S. energy developer VoltaGrid is contracting Austrian-based INNIO to deliver a mammoth 2.3-GW in power infrastructure to energize the AI era. The order covers 92 power racks capable of generating about 25 MW each.

The most recent announcement did not mention a specific customer, but earlier this month VoltaGrid reported that it plans to supply Oracle with 2.3 GW of natural gas capacity for the cloud-based computing firm’s AI data centers.

INNIO is the parent company of Jenbacher and other cogeneration and combined heat and power technology brands. The VoltaGrid deal will focus on using Jenbacher technology for prime, backup and peak power solutions with a single integrated platform.

“This is a major step toward building the energy infrastructure for the AI era,” said Nathan Ough, CEO of VoltaGrid, in a statement. “Together with INNIO, we’re delivering a scalable solution that combines grid-grade performance with ultra-fast response, zero battery reliance and near-zero criteria air emissions. Our partnership provides the speed, reliability and sustainability required to power next-generation data centers.”

Image credit INNIO
innio_graphic

The INNIO-VoltaGrid collaboration is focused on accelerating data center deployment and maximizing graphic processing unit (GPU) performance. It comes at a time when GPU giant NVIDIA is collaborating with ABB, Eaton, Schneider Electric and others to boost energy capacity to meet AI capabilities.

The rise of AI and cloud-based and industrial computing is forcing U.S. power generators to reconsider their past forecasts of flat load growth. In fact, entities such as McKinsey, GoldmanSachs and others are predicting the need for an additional 125 GW of power to match AI and data center growth over the coming decade.

Whether or not this collaboration with VoltaGrid will utilize microgrids, INNIO has long championed use of its technology in microgrid solutions. In a QuickChat video interview with Microgrid Knowledge last year, INNIO senior product manager Robert Autengruber maintained that microgrids are poised to become the standard in decentralized power generation.

“For us, the main criteria [for an advanced microgrid is that it] has to address the global megatrends and challenges that we see as part of the energy transition,” Autengruber said.

Jenbacher has been making engines and cogeneration modules in Austria since the late 1950s. General Electric acquired the group in 2003 and then sold it to Advent International in 2018, when it was renamed INNIO.

More than 27,000 Jenbacher engines and generator sets have been delivered around the world. The engines are used frequently in industrial and campus cogeneration facilities.

VoltaGrid and INNIO leaders consider the engine units ready for AI and machine learning workloads and could save customers up to 10% in efficiency gains due to cogeneration advantages.

“This landmark order underscores the strength of INNIO’s technology and our ability to power the AI revolution with smart, high-performance energy solutions,” said Dr. Olaf Berlien, President and CEO of INNIO Group. “We are proud to partner with VoltaGrid in shaping the energy infrastructure of tomorrow.”

VoltaGrid previously announced power supply deals with numerous data center developers including Vantage Data Centers and Elon Musk’s xAI Memphis facility.

Earlier this month, energy and historic oilfield services firm Halliburton signed a deal with VoltaGrid to collaborate on distributed energy power solutions for data centers globally, starting in the Middle East.

Three years ago, Dutch-based NorthC Datacenters selected INNIO’s Jenbacher Ready for H2 engine technology to provide emergency backup power for NorthC’s data center in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

 

 

About the Author

Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
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Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor

Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023. 

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future. 

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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