Caterpillar, Hunt Energy Partnership Touts Data Center Power Solutions, Managed Services, BESS

Caterpillar and Hunt Energy Company are partnering to deliver power solutions, managed services and battery energy storage systems (BESS) for data centers, the two companies said.

The relationship surfaces at a key time. Indeed, data center providers worldwide are seeking more energy to power generative AI applications. Moreover, grid providers are striving to modernize their infrastructure to meet hyperscaler power needs. And in some cases, cloud service providers (CSPs) are striving to power all of their existing and future data centers with renewable energy or low-carbon solutions.

Amid that backdrop, the first Caterpillar-Hunt data center project will surface at an undisclosed time in Texas. Longer term, the companies expect to deliver up to 1GW of power generation capacity for data centers across North America before expanding globally. Specific deadlines and milestones for the multi-year relationship were not disclosed.

Moreover, the companies did not mention if or how renewable energy will factor into the partnership.

Business Backgrounds

Caterpillar, founded in 1925, is based in Irving, Texas. The company is best known for its construction and mining equipment. Take a closer look, and Caterpillar also offers power solutions, including natural gas and diesel generation equipment, gas turbines, switchgear, controls, aftertreatment and engineering design services.

Moreover, Caterpillar in some ways is a managed services provider (MSP). The company's monitoring services "ensure customers have complete assurance in uninterrupted power delivery, with or without a connection to the power grid," Caterpillar asserts. We're watching to see if the effort also includes Caterpillar Energy as a Service (EaaS) solutions.

Hunt Energy Company, founded in 1934, is based in Dallas, Texas. The company specializes in global energy and real estate development. The company has built and managed upstream oil and gas facilities, pipelines, refineries, LNG terminals, high-voltage transmission systems, and other complex assets.

Hunt Energy also specializes in project financing and operational execution for data center and distributed energy resource projects. Key data center power expertise includes battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Data Center Energy Partnership: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the partnership, Melissa Busen, senior VP, Caterpillar Electric Power division, said: “Caterpillar is excited to continue to collaborate with Hunt Energy to deliver robust and efficient energy solutions for data centers. Hunt’s proven expertise in energy infrastructure complements Caterpillar’s leadership in power systems, enabling us to jointly develop scalable solutions that meet the high demands of reliability, uptime and performance critical to data center operations.”

Added Hunter Hunt, CEO of Hunt Energy: “This partnership with Caterpillar represents a major step forward in our commitment to delivering innovative and flexible energy solutions. Starting in Texas, we’re laying the foundation for a new era of data center power infrastructure.”

We'll be watching an listening for partnership milestones.