Liberty Energy Targets 500-Megawatt Data Center Power Contract by December
Key Facts
Liberty Power Innovations aims to sign its first power services contract for approximately 500 megawatts by December 2026 as it moves to supply power to data center campuses. Parent company Liberty Energy announced the target in its third-quarter earnings disclosure published on October 21, which detailed a strategic development agreement signed by its unit. The agreement covers integrated power services totaling 1.2 gigawatts for data center campuses, extending beyond the scope of the initial targeted contract. Liberty Power Innovations signed the agreement with a leading AI laboratory and a specialized infrastructure platform, according to the company disclosure. The agreement includes a substantial upfront payment for capacity reservation fees, which the company described as an "advance payment of capacity reservation fees."
The announcement came as Liberty Energy reported third-quarter revenue of $1.2 billion, according to its financial results. The company said revenue rose 26% from the same period a year earlier. However, it posted a third-quarter net loss of $39 million, compared with a net profit in the preceding second quarter. Second-quarter earnings had totaled $43 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, according to the earnings disclosure for that period. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization totaled $142 million in the third quarter as the company swung to a net loss.
The company's plans to supply power to data centers coincide with International Energy Agency projections that their global electricity consumption will nearly double. The agency expects consumption to rise from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 950 terawatt-hours in 2030, according to its report on energy and AI. In announcing its alliance with SLB, Liberty linked demand for behind-the-meter generation to data center developers' desire to deploy capacity independently of traditional grid connection timelines. The alliance announcement described the targeted solutions as "power solutions that can be deployed independently of traditional grid interconnection processes." On technical validation, Liberty announced its collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Laboratory of the Rockies and the successful validation of its power technologies on a test platform simulating actual grid conditions.
The new development agreement adds to Liberty's earlier power supply partnerships, including its partnership with Vantage, which included reserving 400 megawatts of generation capacity for 2027. According to that partnership announcement, the parties aim to deliver power agreements totaling up to 1 gigawatt within 5 years of the announcement. Separately, the first phase of the PowerBridge partnership's Alpha Digital Campus project targets generation capacity exceeding 300 megawatts as part of a planned campus in West Texas. Under the PowerBridge partnership, Liberty Power Innovations is responsible for designing, developing and operating scalable modular generation systems, according to the company's project announcement. Its role also includes managing power quality and optimizing grid operations, alongside its responsibilities for generation systems.
Regarding the new development agreement, Liberty management said it is working with the leading AI laboratory and specialized infrastructure platform to develop additional projects at other sites. Work underway includes gas supply, interconnection, permitting and construction planning, according to the third-quarter earnings disclosure. Under its broader plan, Liberty aims to deploy power projects totaling approximately 3 gigawatts by 2029, according to its alliance announcement with SLB. The company's board also approved a cash dividend of $0.10 per Class A share, payable on December 18, 2026, to shareholders of record on December 4, 2026. The phased commissioning schedule for the 1.2-gigawatt development agreement begins in the fourth quarter of 2027 and runs through the first quarter of 2029, after the target date for signing the initial power services contract.