National Grid Ventures Bets $1.75B on Joulent for AI Power

The interesting thing about National Grid announcing a $1.75 billion cheque for 35 percent of Joulent LLC is not really the number, it is the shape. This is a UK utility putting real capital into a US independent power developer that exists specifically to build gas plants next to data centers, and the anchor project comes pre-sold to Microsoft for twenty years.

According to the announcement on PR Newswire, the money will fund Project Kilby, a 2.67 gigawatt co-located power facility in West Texas that National Grid Ventures is building in a 50/50 partnership with Chevron. GE Vernova turbines are secured, EPC capacity is reserved, and the target for first power is 2028. Behind that single project sits a bigger stated ambition: National Grid expects to connect over 10 gigawatts of data center demand across the UK and US within five years, on top of its existing roughly £70 billion capital program through 2031.

National Grid CEO Zoë Yujnovich framed the deal as 'a disciplined, partner-led investment in contracted critical infrastructure' with 'attractive risk-adjusted returns,' and Joulent founder Chris James said the company is 'designed for speed, scale and execution.' The subtext is that hyperscalers are no longer willing to wait in interconnection queues, so a plant that is contracted, co-located and turbine-in-hand is worth paying a premium for even at gas economics.

The honest caveat is that 2028 is very soon for a 2.67 GW build, and the release does not disclose the levelized cost of power to Microsoft, how fuel-price risk is allocated, or which specific sites make up the '10 GW in five years' pipeline beyond Kilby itself. Take the timeline and the pipeline as intentions, not guarantees.

What is worth watching is whether this becomes the template. If a UK utility, a US energy company, a hyperscaler and an independent developer can genuinely underwrite multi-gigawatt AI power on a twenty-year contract with a 2028 delivery, the next dozen deals will look a lot like this one, and the winners will be whoever already has turbines on order and land under permit.