Williams Companies, one of the largest U.S. natural gas pipeline operators, announced on July 13 that a group of investors led by Blackstone Credit & Insurance — a unit of investment giant Blackstone Inc. — has agreed to put $5.34 billion into five power plants the company is building largely to meet surging electricity demand from AI data centers.
Apollo Global Management and insurance vehicles managed by KKR are also part of the investor group, according to Williams’ announcement. In exchange for the capital, the group will hold a 49% noncontrolling stake in the five projects; Williams keeps 51% ownership and retains full operational and commercial control. Of the $5.34 billion, $4.4 billion goes toward growth capital spending, with the remainder paid to Williams as additional consideration. Williams also holds an option to buy back the stake between the seventh and 14th year of the partnership.
Five gas plants built to skip the grid
The projects — named Socrates, Apollo, Aquila, Socrates the Younger and Neo — are “behind-the-meter” plants, built to feed a single large customer’s electricity needs directly rather than through the public grid. Four are in Ohio; Aquila, the only one outside the state, is in Utah and is expected online in the first half of 2027. Socrates the Younger, a 340-megawatt natural-gas facility backed by a 10-year supply agreement, and Neo, the largest of the five at 682 megawatts, are both slated to come online in the second half of 2028. Combined, the announced portfolio totals more than 2.6 gigawatts, part of a broader project pipeline Williams says now exceeds 6 gigawatts.
“The investment from Blackstone… underscores the quality and importance of our turnkey energy infrastructure platform in serving rapidly growing power demand,” Williams President and CEO Chad Zamarin said in the announcement. Blackstone’s Robert Horn and Rick Campbell said the deal reflects “deep conviction” in Williams’ ability to deliver “critical hard assets to serve the AI infrastructure buildout.”
Part of a bigger financing wave
The deal is one of the largest recent examples of private capital flowing into the physical power infrastructure that AI data centers depend on, as computing demand strains electricity grids across the United States. Williams said the arrangement strengthens its balance sheet and preserves capacity to pursue further growth without adding corporate debt, while keeping its target leverage in the 3.5x-to-4.0x range.