Demand for large-scale power is growing faster than the industry can build it. Customers are asking for gigawatts (GW), as quickly as they can be brought on. At the same time, interconnection queues are long, turbines are backordered, and some agencies have stopped issuing permits.
Power supply is the constraint.
The Hillcore alliance is not a strategic shift for Fermi. It’s a market opportunity that we saw and captured. We already hold a 6 GW air permit. We control the land. Turbines are on the ground. Our construction team has built plants like this before. We’re delivering what the market needs – multi-gigawatt private, behind-the-meter power generation that does not strain the public grid.
How the relationship works
The agreement does five things for Fermi:
- Accelerates power delivery at the site that we don’t have to fund – 2.6 GW of incremental power, with no capital outlay from us.
- Keeps 100% of the base rent from leases signed under the agreement, plus rent from Hillcore on the campus.
- Matches every megawatt to a contracted customer.
- Preserves the upside, with an option to own the facility at fair market value after year 10.
- Allows Fermi to maintain control of the overall power architecture, maintaining full uniformity, full reliability, and full load balancing.
Together, that lets Fermi meet demand and scale the campus faster than we could on our own.
And, Fermi is continuing to build 2.2 GW itself. Our own power buildout continues at pace. Hillcore adds approximately 2.6 GW on top of that, and their buildout runs in parallel with ours rather than behind it. Together that takes Project Matador to 4.8 GW of total power available within about 30 months, which is roughly half the time the same capacity would take us to build alone.
With 4.8 GW available on the campus, we can serve more customers and serve them on the timelines they’re asking for, enabling faster growth for Fermi, and strong returns for our shareholders.
Fermi Chief Operating Officer Jacobo Ortiz provides more color on the alliance.
