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Caterpillar engines to support 2 GW of onsite power at West Virginia data center campus tied to Microsoft, NVIDIA
Caterpillar moved to the center of the AI infrastructure buildout this week as developer Nscale said it would use the company’s natural gas generator sets to power a major new West Virginia data center campus tied to Microsoft and NVIDIA.
Monday’s announcement positions Caterpillar’s G3500 series reciprocating engine platform as core infrastructure for what Nscale said could become one of the country’s largest dedicated AI compute developments.
Under the plan, Caterpillar equipment would support 2 GW of onsite generation by the first half of 2028 at the Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, West Virginia, giving the project a faster path to power as grid access and transmission upgrades remain a constraint for large data center loads.
Nscale said the campus would host up to 1.35 GW of AI compute capacity for Microsoft under a letter of intent tied to NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 systems and the NVIDIA DSX AI Factory reference design. The company also announced it had acquired American Intelligence & Power Corp., which includes the 2,250-acre Monarch site and what Nscale described as the first state-certified AI microgrid in the U.S., with expansion potential beyond 8 GW.
It’s the latest example of a data center project being structured around large-scale onsite natural gas generation, rather than waiting solely on utility service.
In a recent report, Cleanview identified 46 U.S. data center projects representing a combined 56 GW of planned behind-the-meter power capacity, which it estimated at roughly 30% of planned U.S. data center capacity in its tracker.
The research company also said 90% of the projects it identified were announced in 2025, indicating that “Bring Your Own Power” has shifted from a niche workaround to a more mainstream development path as grid interconnection timelines lengthen.
“A year ago, behind-the-meter data center power was a curiosity, embodied by xAI’s controversial decision to truck mobile generators into Memphis,” said Cleanview. “Now it’s an increasingly common development strategy.”
Cleanview added many of the projects it identified have secured equipment partners and are already under construction.
“Projects like Monarch demonstrate how Caterpillar’s natural gas generation platforms are being deployed as core infrastructure for data centers and other power intensive applications where reliability, speed of deployment, and lifecycle performance are critical,” Melissa Busen, Caterpillar senior vice president of Electric Power, said in a statement.
Nscale said the West Virginia site would operate independently of the local grid, which it argued would avoid adding costs to existing utility customers, while preserving the option of a future grid interconnection that could allow exports. The company also said it is pursuing carbon sequestration and a design intended to reduce water use.
Kevin Clark is the editor of Factor This Power Engineering, where he reports on power generation, grid reliability and emerging trends shaping the electric sector. Kevin also leads editorial strategy for the POWERGEN conference. He previously spent a decade as a television news and digital journalist. Have a story idea? Email Kevin at kevin.clark@clarionevents.com.
