Babcock & Wilcox Leads $2.4 Billion Power Plant Project for AI Data Centers in the U.S.
Babcock & Wilcox will lead engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work on power generation facilities to energize artificial intelligence (AI) factories in the U.S.
Independent power producer Base Electron is working with the EPC firm on a $2.4 billion design-build agreement to deliver 1.2 GW of new generation capacity. These would supply power directly to data center developer Applied Digital’s AI factory campuses.
Applied Digital is working toward several computing centers including 700 MW of new capacity in the Polaris Forge I and II projects underway in North Dakota.
B&W will be lead contractor on the engineering and construction side of the project. The power plant will include four 300-MW B&W natural gas-fired boilers and steam turbine generator systems from Siemens Energy.
“Receiving full notice to proceed for this $2.4 billion project further underscores the strategic role B&W plays in supporting the rapidly expanding power needs of large‑scale AI data centers,” said Kenneth Young, B&W Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our natural gas-fired boilers and related technologies – as well as steam turbines supplied through an agreement with Siemens Energy – provide the reliable, high‑capacity energy generation on a schedule that is required for the grid today.”
The projected $3 billion Polaris Forge I and II projects are expected to come online this year and by 2027. Coreweave is already announced as leasing the Polaris Forge 1 data center.
Last year, Applied Digital hired Swiss-based ABB to supply medium-voltage electrical infrastructure for the new Polaris Forge 2 campus.
Earlier this year, Applied Digital revealed it was securing $2.15 billion of debt notes to help finance the projects. That debt offering is closing next week.
In his State of the Union address last month, President Trump sounded the alarm over inadequate grid power to meet future AI and cloud-based computing load. He said the administration was telling major tech companies to provide for their own power needs and thus keep grid power adequate and affordable for residential customers.
“We have an old grid,” President Trump said in the SOTU. “It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that’s needed. So, I’m telling them they can build their own plant. They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity while at the same time lowering prices of electricity for you, and could be very substantial, for all your cities and towns. You are going to see good things happen over the next number of years.”
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EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
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EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.