Japan’s largest power generator, JERA, has signed an agreement with Dell Technologies and infrastructure developer RHAELM to build a repeatable model for AI computing facilities, starting with a project beside its Chiba thermal power station near Tokyo.
The partners expect the Chiba development to support up to 400 megawatts of power capacity. Total investment is projected to exceed $15 billion across land, electrical infrastructure, construction and computing equipment. Operations are targeted to begin around 2028, and Apollo Global Management intends to act as RHAELM’s investment and financing partner. JERA says a facility of that size would be Japan’s largest single-site AI infrastructure deployment.
The memorandum of understanding covers a standardized design joining power generation, electrical systems, cooling and AI hardware. The companies want to reuse that design at other sites, reducing the engineering work required for each new facility. Dell will provide pre-integrated computing infrastructure organized at rack scale.
JERA and RHAELM are jointly developing the Chiba project. JERA will supply land adjacent to the power station, with RHAELM responsible for development, construction, operation and financing. JERA is jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power.
The companies describe the electricity arrangement as behind the meter, drawing from an operating generating asset. JERA says that would allow capacity to arrive years earlier than under a conventional grid-connected development schedule. That timing advantage is the company’s projection, rather than a measured result from an operating AI facility.
JERA’s role extends to the fuel supply. The partnership combines its liquefied natural gas procurement, shipping, receiving facilities and generation with Dell’s equipment and RHAELM’s project delivery. JERA says integrating those activities is intended to provide reliable electricity for computing facilities in Japan’s fuel-constrained market.
The planned spending is an estimate for the project’s full development, and Apollo’s participation is described as an intended financing role. JERA says the collaboration supports Japan’s Watt-Bit policy, which coordinates development of electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.
Other developers have also sought power outside conventional utility connection schedules. Cipher Digital is building gas pipelines for on-site generation at several US sites. In the PJM region, regulators have delayed a proposed capacity backstop while reviewing how its costs would be assigned.
The Chiba schedule calls for a phased start in 2028 and full capacity in 2029. JERA and RHAELM also intend to examine deployments at other JERA sites, with a longer-term ambition of supporting multiple gigawatts of AI infrastructure across Japan in the 2030s.
Sources: JERA, Reuters, Dow Jones
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By the Control Plane Editorial Team