Who is actually building a power station next to their data center, and how far along is it? Cleanview, a U.S. firm that follows energy projects, has started to answer that every day. Its new tracker of behind-the-meter gas plants, announced on 21 October, covers more than 100 plants built to supply data centers. The company says the operating capacity has nearly doubled since its June report and the capacity under construction has roughly quadrupled.
What Each Line Of The List Says
For every plant Cleanview shows the campus, the developer and, unit by unit, the technology, manufacturer, model, number of units and nameplate rating. Each unit carries a status (announced, permitted, under construction, operating or canceled) and the year it is expected to run. Firm output is added where a developer or an air permit discloses it, together with the location, the permit and the primary sources. The equipment on the list ranges from simple-cycle and combined-cycle gas turbines to reciprocating engines and fuel cells, and includes aeroderivative turbines and mobile gas generators on semitrailers. Access is through a data platform, CSV files and an interface for software, partly behind a subscription.
The announcement is also a product launch, and the numbers are Cleanview's own counts. One of its own examples is a campus in West Jordan where a satellite image from August shows four finished blocks of gas engines.
The June Report Behind The Numbers
The earlier report, which Cleanview dates to mid-2026, counted 59 data centers with their own generation and about 90 GW announced, more than a quarter of all planned U.S. data center capacity. Some 92 percent of that was announced since the start of 2025. About 2 GW was operating then, around 36 percent was permitted and some 60 percent was only announced or at an early stage. The report ties the trend to long waits for a grid connection and says developers put speed ahead of efficiency. By its count Caterpillar supplies about a third of the permitted equipment, five states hold 83 percent of the proposed capacity with Texas far in front, and permitting is the main brake on schedules. It sees 2.8 to 3.2 GW operating by the end of 2026.
The headline of the newest post speaks of more than 100 GW of announced own power plants, a figure the text itself does not break down; the June report gave about 90 GW.
Announced Is Not Running
Nameplate capacity is not delivered energy, and a plant on a list is not a plant that runs. A near doubling of a base of about 2 GW is still a small slice of 100 GW. For people who supply or service engines and turbines for these sites, the permitted and under-construction columns say more about the next two years than the announced total does.
Related reading: the U.S. president's call for new data centers to make their own power, and power plants.
