Behind-the-meter gas turbines return to AI campuses as a bridging fuel
The transition is keeping a turbine in the parking lot.
Industrial power plant and sky
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The cleanest AI campus on a rendering is arriving with a gas turbine in the site plan. Developers said they still want a renewable and storage end state. They also want to turn the lights on before 2029.
That bridging fuel is already drawing local opposition and investor-relations questions. It is also the only way several announced campuses can keep their hyperscale tenants.
The honest framing is a two-stage project: gas now, cleaner electrons when the queue moves. The dishonest framing is a net-zero campus that happens to have a smokestack.
David Chen
Energy and Infrastructure Correspondent
Covers power markets, nuclear restarts, and the grid constraints around AI campuses.