Blackstone to acquire DC-area gas-fired power plant

Alternative asset manager Blackstone said January 24 its Blackstone Energy Transition Partners had agreed to acquire the gas-fired 774-MW Potomac Energy Center (PEC) in Loudon County, Virginia.

The transaction, Blackstone said, represents its most recent investment in the power infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence and data centres. The Northern Virginia region, where PEC is located, is home to about 25% of all US data centre capacity, and the plant is close to more than 130 data centres, with “significant” further growth expected.

“This investment underscores Blackstone’s commitment to investing in the electric infrastructure required to power AI innovation,” said Bilal Khan, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone Energy Transition Partners. “We believe Potomac is well-positioned to help meet data center-driven power demand growth in Northern Virginia.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but media reports suggest Blackstone agreed to pay $1bn for the plant, which was built in 2017 and acquired by investment firm Ares Management in 2021.

In September 2024, funds managed by Blackstone struck a deal with Macquarie Asset Management to acquire AirTrunk, the largest data centre platform in the Asia Pacific region, for an implied enterprise value of more than A$24bn. It has also recently invested in CoreWeave, a specialised provider of critical cloud infrastructure pioneering the AI revolution, and DDN, a global leader in AI and data intelligence solutions.