In 1849, the 49ers chased gold. In 2025, the new rush is for power.
Utilities and grid operators are overwhelmed with requests for grid interconnection. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the power shortage for data centers could exceed 45 GW.
“Those wanting to build new data centers have discovered that many utilities can’t deliver the power they need for several years,” Vlad Galabov, research director for Digital Infrastructure at analyst firm Omdia, told TechRepublic. “That’s why more than 35 GW of data center power is likely to be self-generated by 2030.”
Big orders have been placed for natural gas turbines and nuclear-based small modular reactors (SMRs). But it will take years for power from those sources to be generated. Where to turn?
Data center developers are gravitating toward smaller gas engines and mobile gas turbines to obtain the power they need more quickly.
Gas generators become a temporary lifeline for AI facilities
Data centers traditionally use diesel-powered generators for backup. Due to emissions concerns and rising fuel costs, these backup generators are transitioning to natural gas. But with power capacity so scarce and so painfully slow to arrive, gas generators are being looked upon as a source of power:
- During the construction phase, to provide lighting and energy for all the on-site construction equipment
- As a prime power for the first few years of operation
Hence, developers are ordering large numbers of gas generators, hooking them up to the natural gas pipeline network, and generating on-site power.
These generators might even stay in place for the first couple of years the data center is open — until the grid is ready to supply the facility, or a larger, permanent onsite power plant is completed. At that point, the generators return to their role as backup generation.
Far from being an isolated application or two, the gas engine market is booming. According to Rolls-Royce, sales of power generation products for the data center segment grew almost 50% in 2024. The company is expanding its gas engine manufacturing facilities to meet demand.
Wärtsilä Energy reports an order for 282 MW of engines to operate a data center project in Ohio. And generator packager Fidelity Manufacturing of Ocala, Florida, has grown from 40 to 500 personnel over the past few years, primarily due to a surge in data center business.
The lead times for these generators are typically a year or two, though some suppliers can deliver them much faster. VoltaGrid, for example, bought many gas generators during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are selling out fast. Oracle just inked a deal with the company to deliver 2.3 GW of gas generators for next-generation AI factories.
Mobile gas turbines deliver fast, large-scale power
Alternatively, data centers are grabbing mobile gas turbine packages that can be brought to a site in a matter of months. Some are buying them; others rent. New APR Energy, for instance, deployed four mobile gas turbines to a US-based AI hyperscaler. They will provide a total of 100 MW of on-site generation.
Companies such as Siemens Energy, GE Vernova, Dynamis Power Solutions, Vericor, Mitsubishi Power, OnPower, Gensystems, CTG, Solar Turbines, and Relevant Power all offer mobile gas turbine packages in various sizes.
There is also another gas turbine option with a lead time of less than two years. ProEnergy offers repurposed aircraft engines for power generation. It has accumulated orders for 21 refurbished turbines rated at 48 MW each for two large data center projects in North America, according to Landon Tessmer, the company’s vice president of commercial operations.
“Our gas turbine packages are gaining ground as a bridging technology that runs behind-the-meter until the utility is able to supply grid power,” Tessmer told TechRepublic.
To learn more about the strain AI infrastructure is putting on energy systems, read TechRepublic’s coverage of the AI data center rush.
