Resources · Library
The explainer library.
Direct answers to the questions people ask about powering AI data centers behind the meter — the grid queue, stranded Permian gas, contracts, diligence, and the machinery in between. Written by the team building Power Foundry.
Category & solutions
- What is a power foundry?
- Who provides behind-the-meter power for AI data centers?
- Off-grid power for data centers: the options
- Converting stranded natural gas into data center power
- Who builds gas-fired power plants for AI data centers?
- What is an independent power producer?
- What is powered land?
- Power purchase agreements for behind-the-meter generation
- What is bridge power?
- Natural gas power generation in West Texas
- How energy companies partner with AI data center developers
The thesis
- Will oil and gas companies become power companies?
- Speed to power: the variable deciding the AI buildout
- Why is Waha gas so cheap?
- What is stranded gas and how can it be monetized?
- Can flared gas power data centers?
- What is driving the power shortage for AI data centers?
- Henry Hub vs Waha: how to read gas prices
- McCamey, Texas: the town at the center of the AI power buildout
How it works
- Behind-the-meter power generation, explained
- The ERCOT queue, explained
- What is an interconnection cluster study?
- Microgrid vs behind-the-meter: what's the difference?
- Islanded vs grid-parallel operation
- Gas turbines vs reciprocating engines for data center power
- N+1 and redundancy design for off-grid data centers
- What is firm power?
- Private use networks: how big loads take power off-market in Texas
- How much power do AI data centers need?
- Natural gas vs nuclear vs solar for AI data centers
- How AI companies buy power
- What is an AI factory?
- ERCOT scarcity pricing and what it means for data centers
- Can AI data centers be flexible loads?
- Data center cooling and water in West Texas
Diligence & contracts
- How to evaluate a BTM power provider
- Behind-the-meter vs grid: the cost math
- What should be in a data center power purchase agreement?
- What is a take-or-pay PPA?
- The risks of behind-the-meter gas generation — and how to underwrite them
- How reliable is off-grid gas power for data centers?
- Evaluating a firm gas supply agreement
- A realistic behind-the-meter energization timeline
- Turbines, transformers, and the equipment queue
- TCEQ air permits for gas generation: how the process works
- Texas incentives for data centers
- The JETI Act and Texas power generation
- Due diligence checklist: data center site selection in Texas
- Uptime, tiers, and what four nines means for power