ECP Was Buying Power Plants When They Were Out of Style

Energy Capital Partners, among the most dominant energy players in the global data center market, now sees an upside potential to its many power-plant sites that did not exist during decades of zero-growth in the electricity markets, says Andrew Gilbert, a Partner at ECP. 

Gilbert recently sat for an interview with Cool Vector, during which he described ECP's response the surging demand for energy out of the digital infrastructure and manufacturing spaces. 

ECP has become a highly sought-after power-infrastructure partner for the data-center industry by financing and operating generation platforms that directly underpin hyperscale and cloud-campus build-outs. With more than $32 billion in committed capital since its 2005 founding, ECP's marquee partnerships include a $50 billion strategic alliance with KKR and a $25 billion joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s ADQ. 

Among the key takeaways of the interview:

• Tapping existing power supply remains far less expensive than building out new capacity. That said, ECP is now seeing opportunities to add capacity to existing power-plant sites, wheras in years prior its portfolio of assets was acquired at valuations well below replacement cost.  • The queues for power interconnection among data center developers are "overstated" because of the strategy of proliferating proposals to see which get approved first. • Solar power still has a "cost advantage." • Some institutional investors have seen such success with digital infrastructure investments that their portfolios have become over-allocated to the sub-asset class.  • The US has a natural-gas "constraint problem" that will hamper the build out of infrastructure necessary for what most market observers believe will be the most critical source of power for data centers going forward.