Exclusive: Ex-Microsoft, BP execs unite on quick data center power

Axios

5 days ago

Former Microsoft and BP execs are launching a startup to quickly deploy data centers with on-site power — and very high efficiency.
Why it matters: Rapidly building and powering data centers — and doing it without straining grids or spiking emissions — is key to the global AI race.
Driving the news: The startup GridFree AI, born in "electron economy" incubator Montauk Climate, emerges from stealth Monday with $5 million led by Giant Ventures.
Its modular, off-grid "power foundry" concept integrates gas power, battery storage, and cooling with computing infrastructure.
It's "systematic, repeatable, and becomes a manufacturing process, not a stick-built process," GridFree AI co-founder and executive chairman Ralph Alexander told Axios exclusively.
The big picture: Time is money. The tech "dramatically" cuts development timelines, the company said, enabling tech companies to accelerate revenue generation.
They envision additive units to match various computing needs and their growth, with multiple gigawatts of scale possible.
Alexander compares it to a "Lego set that you just continue to connect."
State of play: Alexander is the former CEO of power producer Talen Energy and was also once CEO of BP's gas, power and renewables unit.
The other co-founder is Patrick Yantz, a top data center infrastructure exec at Microsoft until late 2024.
Advisers include Gary Wojtaszek, the former CEO of data center heavyweight CyrusOne, and Tim Duncan, former CEO of the oil and gas company Talos Energy.
How it works: GridFree AI says its system cuts capital and operating costs by a third via "elimination of legacy infrastructure," such as diesel generators and traditional fan cooling.
It converts gas into electricity and cooling with 90% efficiency and ensures more power is used for the actual data center IT and processing units, which means much lower CO2, it said.
"The efficiency of the overall solution enables a 50% increase in available power for IT loads," the announcement states.
Reality check: Building and deploying new hard tech is really tough. And competition is intense, with lots of deep pockets and big brains trying to crack the data center energy code.
But Philip Krim, Montauk Climate's co-founder and CEO, said GridFree AI has key advantages.
It brings to data centers the oil and gas industry's expertise on supply chains and building and deploying assets in predictable and scalable ways, he said.
What we're watching: The company has ID'd sites in the southeastern U.S. that have gas access, fiber-optic connectivity, favorable regulations, and access to sequestration infrastructure if CO2 capture is ever integrated.
"We reverse engineered and basically asked our consultants to tell us, where would you build something with a minimum amount of NIMBY issues and NGO issues," Alexander said.
It also sees opportunities in the U.K. and Europe. The startup has held technical discussions with multiple hyperscalers, the execs said.