An LNG exporter wants to become a power company for AI. Venture Global said on 15 October that it has signed power and grid frame agreements with GE Vernova and Baker Hughes Energy Services for up to 16 new power island units of 720 MW each, together with the power transformers that go with them. The units are combined cycle gas turbines with related equipment, in the same configuration as the generation the company already runs at its LNG plants, and they are meant to feed adjacent data centers without a grid connection.
From Liquefaction Power To Compute
Venture Global already makes its own electricity. It counts about 4.5 GW of modular gas-fired generation in six power islands that are ordered, under construction or in operation across its LNG facilities in Louisiana. All 16 new units would add up to roughly 11.5 GW on top of that. The first purchase order is planned before the end of 2026, the rest in stages through reservation agreements or further orders, and the first permit applications were to be filed in the week of the announcement. First power is targeted for late 2028 or early 2029.
The goal is up to 10 GW of compute capacity by the end of 2034 on sites the company owns or controls, subject to customer commitments and market conditions. None of that is contracted demand yet. Chief executive Mike Sabel said the platform runs fully behind the meter and described the plan as a phased expansion towards a vertically integrated AI utility that brings together gas supply, power, water systems, land and data centers. The company says the expansion would take nothing from the public grid or from public water utilities and refers to closed-loop water systems.
Island Mode Is A Different Job
A combined cycle plant that is the only source for a data center works under other rules than one that sells into a grid. There is no network to absorb a trip, so the plant has to carry spare units and take the load steps of the IT halls on its own, and the steam cycle behind the gas turbines has to follow those swings as well. On the Gulf Coast, heat and humidity take output away from gas turbines in exactly the months when the cooling load of a data hall peaks, and with closed-loop water the heat of both the plant and the halls ends up in the air.
How black start and backup will be arranged on these sites has not been published. In other island-mode projects that is where reciprocating engines have come back into the picture. For people working on gas turbine plants, the notable part is who is reserving the capacity: an LNG company, not a utility. The first firm purchase order, promised by year end, will show whether tenants are behind it.
Sources: Venture Global, BIC Magazine
