Solar power and batteries will form part of the energy solution for the first Stargate AI data center project being planned in the US.

Announced last week, Stargate is joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and investment firm MGX. Once up and running, it will deliver compute power to train and run OpenAI’s large language models and tools.

The Stargate build-out is apparently already underway in Texas, and the power requirements of the site have yet to be disclosed but are likely to be significant - DCD reported last year that OpenAI presented a plan for 5GW data centers at a briefing for White House officials.

Now Bloomberg has reported that at least some power for the site will come via SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy, which develops solar and battery solutions. The report cites people familiar with plans for Stargate.

OpenAI told Bloomberg it was considering various options for how Stargate could help modernize the US energy grid, looking at technology ranging from nuclear power to batteries.

SB Energy already has plans to supply data centers in Texas, with a trio of projects announced last year set to power Google’s data centers.

The three projects, Orion I, Orion II, and Orion III, form the Orion Solar Belt. They are located in Milam County, Texas, and have a combined capacity of 900MW and individual capacities of 258MW, 302MW, and 315MW, respectively.

Solar power alone is unlikely to provide enough energy for Stargate, meaning OpenAI could to turn to other sources such as natural gas or nuclear energy. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman is an investor in small modular reactor firm Oklo and nuclear fusion startup Helion.