Energy Vault to supply 1.25 GW of off-grid BESS for U.S. data center

Energy Vault, a battery storage company, has signed its largest deal yet: supplying batteries and power-conversion equipment for a huge AI data center in Texas. The project is sized at 1.25 gigawatts and is designed to run off-grid, meaning it won't wait in line to connect to the regular utility grid. That matters because grid hookup queues in some U.S. markets now stretch five years or more, and Texas alone has requests for 474 gigawatts of new grid connections, most from data centers, according to Governor Greg Abbott (not all of those projects are expected to actually get built).

This is not a residential energy story, but it points to where a lot of grid and equipment demand is heading. The data center will use Caterpillar generators for power, paired with Energy Vault's batteries and grid-forming systems, which help stabilize power without relying on the main utility grid. The system is also being built to meet "FEOC" rules, a supply-chain restriction that is becoming a standard requirement for U.S. projects that want federal incentives. Energy Vault expects to start initial deployment within four to twelve months, with revenue from the deal in the $500-600 million range through 2026 and 2027.

For homeowners, the takeaway is indirect: as AI data centers multiply and increasingly build their own private power and storage systems, it shows how much strain new construction is putting on regional grids like ERCOT in Texas. Energy Vault says it plans to pursue similar deals with other large data center operators, so this kind of off-grid power setup may become more common in areas with heavy data center growth.