Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business Blackstone Energy Transition Partners (Blackstone) has agreed to acquire the 774MW Potomac Energy Center, a natural gas power plant in the US.
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has invested approximately $23bn in equity globally, spanning a diverse range of energy industry sectors.
Reuters reported that sources familiar with the matter estimate the transaction to be valued at around $1bn, although financial terms were not disclosed by the company.
Located in Loudoun County, Virginia, the Potomac Energy Center was built in 2017. It has been under the ownership of investment firm Ares Management since 2021.
According to Blackstone, this marks its latest investment in power infrastructure supporting the data centre and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.
The natural gas power plant is strategically located near over 130 data centres, a region that accounts for approximately 25% of US data centre capacity.
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners managing director Mark Zhu said: “We are particularly excited about this investment given the opportunity to supply reliable, baseload power to the region.
“Potomac is one of the most efficient gas power plants in the region and has the potential to integrate a hydrogen fuel blend in the future, which could provide future environmental benefits.”
Blackstone is expanding its portfolio of infrastructure assets that drive AI innovation, said the company.
Beyond energy, the firm has recently made major investments in CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure provider specialising in AI, and DDN.
For the transaction, Santander and Jefferies acted as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisers to Blackstone.
Blackstone’s acquisition follows a significant development in the power sector earlier this month, when Constellation Energy announced a $16.4bn agreement to acquire Calpine.
The deal will add Calpine’s predominantly gas-fired fleet to Constellation’s nuclear-focused generation portfolio.
