Thunderhead Energy Solutions, a US-based behind-the-meter natural gas power developer, has secured funding from Harbert Management Corporation (HMC) to develop up to 1.5GW of power generation capacity for the data center market.

The collaboration will focus specifically on onsite natural gas-powered generation, aiming to provide data center companies in the US market an expedited route to market. Under the terms of the agreement, HMC will own and operate the generation assets in partnership with Thunderhead, if certain, undisclosed, milestones are reached.

"Thunderhead has identified a logical and scalable approach to solving the power generation bottleneck in digital infrastructure deployment," said Claude Estes, senior managing director at HMC. "We are excited to partner with a team whose deep and transferable experience positions them to meet this critical market need."

The partners aim to offer data center customers up to 100MW of capacity within 24 months, which is much faster than the five-plus years it usually takes to secure a connection within the US market.

"The data center industry is at an inflection point where traditional power infrastructure simply cannot keep pace with demand," said Chuck Marvin, co-founder of Thunderhead. "This partnership allows us to rapidly scale deployment of behind-the-meter solutions, addressing both the immediate need for reliable power and the long-term sustainability goals of our customers."

The partners claim that while the project will initially rely on natural gas generation, it will have the capacity to integrate renewable resources. The amount HMC invested in Thunderhead was not disclosed.

Founded in 2024, Thunderhead focuses on the funding, development, and operation of behind-the-meter baseload power solutions for data centers. According to its LinkedIn, it has between two to ten employees and has no deployments as of yet within the data center market.

HMC is a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment management firm. According to its website, it focuses explicitly on the alternative asset sector and has approximately $8.1 billion in regulatory assets under management as of March 31, 2025.

Several other firms have developed off-grid power solutions for the data center market. In February, VoltaGrid partnered with Vantage Data Centers to deploy 1GW of off-grid natural gas generation across its North American portfolio.

Before this, Liberty Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DC Grid to deliver off-grid gas generation to the data center sector and commercial fleet electric vehicle hubs.

As a result, off-grid natural gas is fast becoming the go-to for data center firms seeking a faster route to market, with many firms eschewing sustainability concerns in favor of reliable dispatchable power.