AI campuses need large blocks of power on schedules that utility interconnection rarely meets. The result is a build-out of generation on the data center site itself, often called behind-the-meter power, used either as a bridge until the grid arrives or as permanent prime power.
Why on-site generation
Enverus reported that interconnection timelines averaged more than 2,100 days for projects reaching first power in 2025, and recommended planning bridge power from day one.1 Projects announced since include Williams' two 200 MW Socrates plants for Meta in New Albany, Ohio, designed with no connection to PJM,2 and the 4.5 GW Homer City Energy Campus in Pennsylvania, built with seven GE Vernova turbines and Kiewit as design-builder.3
The turbine supply chain
Demand has run ahead of turbine manufacturing capacity. In July 2026 GE Vernova reported 116 GW of backlog plus slot reservations, with reservations booking deliveries in 2031.4 In August 2026 Siemens Energy reported a 69 GW gas turbine backlog and lead times of more than three years.5 Caterpillar reported power generation retail sales up 72 percent year over year in its second quarter of 2026, driven by large generator sets and turbines for data centers.6
When the prime mover has a multi-year lead time, every system around it has to be ready the day it lands. A turbine waiting on its fuel skid is stranded capital.
Fleets of packaged units
Much of this generation arrives as many identical, factory-built packages. GE Vernova's 29-unit LM2500XPRESS delivery to Crusoe totals about 1 GW, with each package about 95 percent factory assembled.7 VoltaGrid's 2.3 GW program for Oracle uses 92 power packs of about 25 MW each.8 Crusoe also ordered 13 PE6000 units from PROENERGY, totaling 650 MW, built and test-fit in Missouri.9
Fleet generation changes what owners need from the rest of the supply chain. The fuel conditioning, water and utility systems serving 29 turbines are best delivered as 29 copies of one proven design, on a schedule that matches the turbines.
Balance of plant on the critical path
Balance of plant covers everything around the turbine islands: fuel systems, water treatment, cooling, compressed air, electrical and the piping between them. On Fermi America's first six Siemens Energy SGT-800 units in Amarillo, balance of plant is a separate EPC scope awarded to Primoris.10 Each turbine requires gas conditioned to its OEM specification at the control valve, so the fuel gas conditioning package is one of the first systems that must be engineered, built and tested.
Moving that work into a factory does what the turbine OEMs are already doing with their own packages: it takes fabrication off the site, makes testing repeatable and turns schedule risk into production planning.
The vocabulary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Time to power | How long until usable megawatts reach the site |
| Behind-the-meter | Generation serving the load directly, often with no utility interconnection |
| Bridge power | On-site generation that runs until the grid connection arrives |
| Prime power | On-site generation as the permanent primary source |
| Islanded | A plant operating independently of the grid |
| Slot reservation | A paid position in an OEM's production queue |
See the full glossary.
- Enverus, 21 April 2026, "Time to power." enverus.com
- Power Engineering, June 2025, on the Williams Socrates projects for Meta. power-eng.com
- GE Vernova press release, 2 April 2025. gevernova.com
- Utility Dive, 23 July 2026. utilitydive.com
- Utility Dive, 10 August 2026, on Siemens Energy Q3 FY2026 results. utilitydive.com
- Manufacturing Dive, 5 August 2026, on Caterpillar Q2 2026 results. manufacturingdive.com
- GE Vernova press release, 22 July 2025. gevernova.com
- POWER Magazine, 15 October 2025. powermag.com
- PROENERGY release via PR Newswire, 16 April 2026. prnewswire.com
- Fermi America release via PR Newswire, 30 June 2026. prnewswire.com
