NRG Expects to Line Up New US Data Center Deals This Quarter

NRG Energy Inc. is working on deals to power US data centers “all over the country” and will reveal details with second-quarter results, according to the top executive of the independent generator.

These are huge, complicated deals and it’s sensitive to figure out when to announce them, Chief Executive Officer Larry Coben said on Bloomberg TV.

Data centers are supercharging growth in electricity demand, and shares of power generators, long unloved by Wall Street, have rallied since early last year in this new paradigm. Investors are rewarding companies signing deals to supply power to tech giants.

It’ll take all kinds of resources — including natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, hydro and batteries — to meet needs for artificial intelligence, Coben said. Houston-based NRG will help meet this new demand thanks to turbine orders for natural gas plants and through its $12 billion deal with LS Power Equity Advisors LLC announced last month, he said.

“Every time there’s not a data center deal for a month, people wonder if they are real,” Coben said. “But now that we’ve seen the last two, they are clearly real.”