On-Site Gas Generation a Solution to Data Center Power Crunch: Expert

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 24, 2025 — On-site natural gas generation offers a viable alternative to grid connections for power-hungry data centers, according to Jim Summers, CEO of GPC Infrastructure, who presented Feb. 24 at the MetroConnect conference here.

Summers, with 35 years in the energy sector, said the growth of high-performance computing "is going to change the way we think about energy for the next decade," while noting that energy has weathered multiple transformative shifts throughout his career.

"The explosive growth of hyperscale data centers is creating insatiable demand for power that will exceed the ability of utility providers to expand their capacity faster," Summers told attendees.

"The cost of power to operate data centers may increase significantly as operators economize on power, and 40% of AI data centers will face operational constraints due to power availability by 2027."

GPC, which stands for Gas Powered Compute, was formed to leverage the principal's energy industry knowledge to offer on-site natural gas as a long-term solution rather than just temporary or backup power.

"I've been out on the market about six months, and inevitably I get four questions, and they're almost always in this order: Is it legal? Is it reliable? Is it economic? And is it sustainable?" Summers said.

He emphasized that on-site generation is legal in all 50 states, with approximately 4,600 facilities already operating nationwide. Most of these installations are in industrial applications, with about 72% powered by natural gas.

Regarding reliability, Summers pointed to aging grid infrastructure, noting that "70% of transmission is 25 years old" while the Department of Energy forecasts a 60% growth in needed capacity by 2035. By contrast, he said on-site gas generation can achieve "five nines" of reliability.

Summers said that natural gas prices have fallen dramatically, from a peak of $8.50 per MBTU (Million British Thermal Units) in the early 2000s to around $3 today. The most compelling advantage, he argued, is efficiency: "On-site generation would be up to 85% efficient when you capture waste heat on site. By comparison, the average efficiency of the grid is about 33%."

Addressing sustainability concerns, Summers said that "the number one reason for the reduction in U.S. carbon emissions in the past 10 years has been natural gas displacing coal, not renewables." He claimed that on-site gas generation with waste heat capture produces roughly half the emissions of the average grid.

Summers outlined the complete value chain required to implement on-site generation, including gas supply, facility design, regulatory compliance, and operations. "All of these have to work together to make this work. So it's a complex value chain," he said.