Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (“B&W”) signed a strategic partnership agreement with Denham Capital’s Sustainable Infrastructure arm (“Denham”) to jointly pursue opportunities to generate power to support the increased demand from data centers in the U.S. and Europe. This will include technologies for coal power generation or natural gas conversion projects as well as back-end environmental technology.
Through the partnership, substantial investments will be made to convert coal-fired power plants to cleaner natural gas solutions, which represent a crucial bridge for the clean energy transition. Natural gas offers cost-effective and rapid deployment to support the development of data centers until renewables can match the pace of electricity demand growth.
The partnership combines Denham’s expertise in developing, building and operating large-scale power plants across six different continents, and B&W’s many decades of industry-leading experience in coal power generation and the conversion of coal-fired power plants to use natural gas. Denham and B&W are ideally positioned to build the sustainable infrastructure required to meet the growing demand for reliable, flexible and affordable power solutions for data center developers.
Justin DeAngelis, Global Head of Sustainable Infrastructure at Denham Capital, commented, “Data centers have created an unprecedented and immediate demand for power generation, the likes of which we have not seen in nearly two decades. Time-to-power is a key focal point for data center developers and hyperscalers, and this partnership is one differentiated tool we are looking to utilize to meet market needs.”
“We are delighted to partner with B&W to offer reliable, fast, low-cost and sustainable power solutions to the data center market, leveraging B&W’s nearly 160 years of expertise in power boilers, and bringing Denham’s 10 GW of experience in developing, constructing or operating power generation,” DeAngelis said. “Given the scale of this opportunity, Denham will shortly announce a dedicated portfolio company focused on delivering these solutions. It is vital we leverage existing power fleets, decarbonize, and increase the quality and security of our power generation systems.”
Kenneth Young, B&W Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, noted that B&W’s experience and technologies, combined with Denham’s power sector expertise, position the two companies to capitalize on the incredible opportunities to serve this growing market.
“This partnership brings two well-established, experienced teams together to quickly and effectively identify opportunities to leverage underutilized coal-fired power plants to provide affordable, reliable power for large-scale data centers,” Young said. “The rapid growth of AI and datacenters is driving demand for new, dedicated electrical generation capacity for these facilities, and we see a tremendous opportunity to help customers meet their energy needs affordably and efficiently. With our vast experience and our broad suite of both traditional and new technologies, we are well-positioned to support the power demand from data centers and global AI growth now and in the future.”
