National Grid said on July 1, 2026 that it will invest $1.75 billion in Joulent, a developer that builds electricity generation dedicated to AI data centers. The investment, made through the utility's National Grid Ventures arm, is a bet that the binding constraint on AI is no longer chips but power — and the multi-year queues to connect it to the grid.
What Joulent does
Joulent develops dedicated generation to supply multi-gigawatt power to AI infrastructure and other large industrial customers, bypassing the traditional utility interconnection process. In effect it inverts how projects are sited: developers now choose locations based on where power can actually be built and delivered, rather than working backward from a preferred site and waiting for a grid connection.
Inside Project Kilby
The company's first project is Project Kilby, a 2.67-gigawatt natural-gas generation campus in Reeves County, Texas. Joulent holds a 50% ownership stake, alongside partners including Chevron subsidiary Energy Forge and GE Vernova. The power is contracted to a Microsoft-operated data center under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Why a utility is moving in
"Our investment in Joulent is a disciplined, partner-led investment in contracted critical infrastructure for the AI-driven large load economy," said National Grid CEO Zoë Yujnovich. Joulent CEO Chris James said the backing "strengthens our ability to deliver reliable, large-scale power on the timelines AI infrastructure and advanced industry now requires."
The interconnection bottleneck
The deal is a response to interconnection delays that have made grid access, not capital or chips, the scarce resource for AI operators. Rather than wait years to integrate with the grid, developers are increasingly building dedicated generation next to the data centers it will feed — a model that trades the shared grid's efficiency for speed.