CAT Announces Hunt Energy Partnership | ConEquip.com

Who Are the Players?

Caterpillar is one of the powerhouses of the heavy equipment world, with 12% of the market share against its competitors like John Deere and Volvo. Everyone on a jobsite can recognize the CAT logo, and most folks off jobsites probably could as well. CAT is the well-known brand of the heavy machinery world. In addition to its machinery, CAT also has financial and energy divisions to assist with the proposed projects.

Hunt Energy may be less recognizable, but they are a nearly century-old company with energy projects spanning four continents. They specialize in infrastructure development, project financing, and operational execution for data centers and distributed energy resource projects.

What’s the Project?

The ongoing partnership between these two companies will begin in Texas–where CAT moved their headquarters to in 2022–with a proposed 1 GW power station to power data centers across the U.S. The project will act as a stepping off point for potential global data center energy support.

The demand for data centers—the computing power houses behind the Ai revolution—is rapidly growing and has shown no signs of slowing any time soon. According to Construction Drive and the Dodge Construction Network, data center projects account for 19% increase in planning since December 2023. Tech industry giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta all have plans for additional data centers.

Many communities have pushed back against data center proposals. In Indianapolis community protests against Google’s “Project Flo” data center caused the tech giant to withdraw their application to rezone a 468-acre plot intended for the data center. Initially, this project was approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission, but after protesters raised concerns about environmental impact, Google withdrew its petition to rezone the land.

Many of these environmental concerns stem from the increased power needed to run these data facilities, and the increase in greenhouse gases that are released with the increased power demand. In Memphis, Elon Musk’s xAI data center has caused controversy due to unpermitted methane generators required to run the facility as the existing grid is not able to provide the necessary power. The burned methane sends pollutants into the adjacent communities, but the other side of the coin is a major strain on the community power if the data center were to stop utilizing the generators. The grid simply isn’t equipped to handle both the data center and the community’s power demands. So how does a newly built data center balance its power demands without putting major strain on the people who live nearby?

What Can the Partnership Do?

The partnership between CAT and Hunt Energy has the stated goal of building the infrastructure necessary for these data centers to operate without putting strain on the power grid or the community at large. CAT plans to leverage its diesel and natural gas generation solutions, as well as monitoring and servicing solutions after construction is completed. This in combination with Hunt Energy’s expertise in infrastructure, means that once a data center is built, it will have the capabilities to monitor its energy use and adjust as necessary.

“This partnership with Caterpillar represents a major step forward in our commitment to delivering innovative and flexible energy solutions,” said Hunter Hunt, chief executive officer at Hunt Energy. “Starting in Texas, we’re laying the foundation for a new era of data center power infrastructure.”