Scaling Data Infrastructure: Vantage and Liberty Energy's 1 GW Power Initiative
Hyperscale campus developer Vantage Data Centers is going to partner with energy services firm Liberty Energy to connect up to 1 GW of on-site or co-located power over the next five years.
Liberty Energy would deliver power solutions for data centers and then own and operate the generation assets through its Liberty Power Innovations (LPI) company. The long-term power agreements would support cloud and AI computing infrastructure for some of the world’s largest digital tech firms.
Power generation resource availability is the growing concern for AI and data computing firms which are concerned that the utility grid may not match the anticipated growth of digital infrastructure into the 2030s. Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Meta and Amazon are among those hyperscalers which are seeking power purchase deals both in and out of the utility grid.
“As demand for digital infrastructure accelerates, access to dependable, high efficiency, scalable power is critical for hyperscale growth,” said Dana Adams, president, North America at Vantage Data Centers, in a statement. “Partnering with strategic organizations such as LPI strengthens our ability to deliver capacity for our customers where and when they need it, while controlling costs and growing responsibly in power-constrained markets.”
U.S. data centers consumed about 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity—close to 4% of the nation’s utility-scale portfolio in 2024, according to International Energy Agency estimates reported by the Pew Research Center. The portion of U.S. electricity generation taken by digital infrastructure, particularly energy-hungry AI, could rise to double-digit percentage points.
Hyperscale data campuses typically have 5,000 servers or more, and rack density could accelerate to 1 MW per rack in coming years, according to other reports.
Vantage Data Centers has developed campuses throughout the U.S. and around the world, including projects in Malaysia, Italy, United Kingdom and Canada.
The data center developer previously announced a 1-GW+ power generation agreement with microgrid provider VoltaGrid nearly a year ago.
VoltaGrid also is contracting on-site power engine manufacturer INNIO to supply 92 natural gas-fired gen-set racks in a separate data campus development deal with Oracle. The order was INNIO’s biggest yet.
Back to the newest Vantage power generation deal: Liberty Energy will connect its Forte power generation and Temp intelligent load management technologies to the on-site power solution for the data centers. The on-site power will be built for prime power and could accommodate future utility grid interconnection, the companies say.
“Our North American platform provides the scale, reliability and operational expertise to support Vantage in this major energy infrastructure undertaking,” Ron Gusek, CEO at Liberty, said in a statement. “This alliance represents a significant step forward in aligning energy and digital infrastructure to meet growing demand for AI services while setting a new standard for unprecedented scale and reliability.”
Last year, Liberty also announced a memorandum of understanding with off-grid and on-site power solutions startup DC Grid for projects tailored to commercial customers such as fleet electrification and data centers.
The memorandum of understanding between the two companies was centered around developing direct-current (DC) power infrastructure which can support large-scale customers independent of the main grid. The collaboration will combine DC Grid’s off-grid modular systems with Liberty’s products, including mobile and on-site power generation capabilities.
The projects can be microgrid-connected, but the common voltage will be DC, according to the firms.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Head of Content
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.