UAE’s sovereign investor ADQ has agreed with US private equity company Energy Capital Partners (ECP) to form a 50/50 partnership to invest in new power generation and energy infrastructure projects.
The partners plan to deploy more than $25bn across projects totalling 25GW.
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The partnership’s initial capital contribution is expected to be $5bn, with a focus on greenfield development, new build and expansion opportunities, primarily in the US.
The joint venture, combining ADQ’s infrastructure investment expertise with ECP’s energy investment platform, aims to meet the growing power demands of data centres, cloud companies and other energy-intensive industries.
Besides the US, the partnership may allocate a portion of the capital to selected international markets.
ADQ managing director and group CEO Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi stated: “The acceleration of AI and its societal adoption presents attractive opportunities to serve the power and infrastructure needs of data centres and hyperscalers. Meeting these power needs presents evolving challenges for governments worldwide in ensuring secure, stable and commercially competitive electricity supply.
“As an active investor with a sharp focus on critical infrastructure and proven capability in building long-term partnerships, we are in a prime position to help address these shifting structural dynamics. Our partnership with ECP allows us to invest meaningfully in generation and related infrastructure assets that support accelerating demand for power, promoting the progress of these industries and helping to future-proof economies.”
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global electricity consumption is set to rise sharply, driven by data centres and industrial electrification.
In the US, electricity demand is projected to increase significantly, with data centre power demand expected to grow by up to 165% by the end of the decade.
ECP founder and executive chairman Doug Kimmelman stated: “AI will be a major driver of US economic and job growth over the coming decade, but not unless ample new electricity supplies are developed.
“We are honoured to build an investing partnership with ADQ to provide the electricity resources demanded by the rapidly growing AI data centre sector where the build-out of new power generation resources or additionality in the US will require significant, patient capital with a long-term horizon.
“Given the tightening supply/demand dynamics in US power markets, new generation capacity will be needed and our focus in this partnership will therefore primarily be on newbuild natural gas-fired power generation assets in scale to meet the needs of hyperscalers on a timely basis.”
