Doug Sheridan: Why an 'Old' Gas Tech is a Big Part of AI's Power Future

Pictured: A simple cycle natural gas power plant in North Carolina operated by Duke Energy

[Note: Doug Sheridan is a keen energy analyst and writer who posts commentaries on LinkedIn several days a week. I read him on a regular basis and, if you are on LinkedIn, you should read him, too. Enjoy.]

Bloomberg writes, if Stargate’s first AI data center is completed next year as planned, the 900-acre site will rely on generation technology that’s largely been relegated to the sidelines of power production—small, simple cycle natural gas turbines.

That’s because the AI boom—which has supercharged electricity demand—is unfolding faster than power plants can be built and new grid connections established.

The venture by OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank is bridging the gap by stringing together a dozen of the small generators to power the Texas facility. Other city-sized data centers, including xAI and Alphastruxure, a JV between The Carlyle Group and Schneider Electric, are doing the same.