National Grid Ventures (NGV), the commercial arm of National Grid, announced it will invest $1.75 billion for a 35% stake in Joulent, forming a “broad strategic partnership” to develop contracted power and electrical infrastructure solutions for U.S. large load demand.
Joulent, a “technology-driven” energy company, develops and delivers baseload multi-gigawatt power solutions with an “Across-the-Meter” approach that integrates generation, storage, and advanced controls to deliver power to new industrial loads. National Grid stressed that rising demand from data centers and other power-intensive industries is driving the demand for scalable power, and this demand is often outpacing the timelines of traditional grid connections.
“Our investment in Joulent is a disciplined, partner-led investment in contracted critical infrastructure for the AI-driven large load economy,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Chief Executive of National Grid. “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.”
NGV argues that Joulent has built the “capabilities, partnerships and resources” to develop integrated power solutions for U.S. large load customers, including data centers, in an effort 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 meant to scale quickly to meet near-term large load power demand.
NGV’s investment will enable the development of Joulent’s foundational project, Project 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.
Joulent also has a multi-gigawatt pipeline of future projects that could provide incremental growth over time, NGV noted. Additionally, NGV maintains that its own experience will complement Joulent’s portfolio well, including experience with high-voltage networks, system integration and balancing, infrastructure development and project execution. National Grid also hopes to strengthen its 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.
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.