With 12 initial vetted energy partners, the Coalition makes power co-development the fastest path to scaling AI compute - bringing capacity online in months, not years.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / June 30, 2026 / The Sijbrandij Foundation today launched the Data Center Power Coalition. With an initial group of 12 vetted energy partners, the Coalition advances power co-development - planning power alongside compute from the start - as the fastest path to scaling AI.

By pairing solar-and-storage centric on-site power development and embedded load flexibility with accelerated grid interconnection, the Coalition accelerates speed-to-power, bringing firm compute load online in months, not years. The goal of the Coalition is to make it easier for the AI industry to adopt this strategy as the new standard for powering data centers at scale.

The Coalition builds on the Foundation's open-sourced Data Center Power Playbook, published in April 2026, moving from a shared framework to coordinated execution. Instead of vetting and independently contracting across every technology and solution category, AI infrastructure teams can access a coordinated network of industry-leading partners through one coalition.

"The AI industry runs on procurement, but power is infrastructure - it has to be co-developed, planned alongside compute from the start, not bought piecemeal after the fact," said Aric Li, Director of Data Center Energy at the Sijbrandij Foundation. "That complexity, not the economics, is why the commercially superior path hasn't been adopted. We built the Data Center Power Coalition to remove that complexity - streamlining both energy strategy through our living open-sourced Playbook, and energy execution through our coalition of vetted partners."

The AI race has become an energy race, and power is now the single greatest bottleneck to scaling compute supply. The industry is in a structural compute shortage, and the supply-demand imbalance is worsening as power constraints hold back new capacity, leaving AI builders scrambling for solutions. Power co-development - planning power alongside compute, across on-site generation and the grid - is the commercially superior answer: faster, more reliable, and more bankable - delivering firm compute in months, not years. Its one barrier is execution complexity - precisely why a coalition of vetted partners is needed to make it adoptable at scale.

"No single company can solve data center power alone. Hitachi focuses on what we do best as an integrator and partners with best-in-class companies for the rest. That's what makes this coalition compelling - convening partners across the energy ecosystem to deliver reliable, clean power at the speed and scale AI demands," said KJ Joshi, Chief Business Officer & Head of Data Center Business, Hitachi.

The Data Center Power Coalition launches with an initial 12 vetted partners: Amperesand, DG Matrix, Emerald AI, florrent, GridCARE, Hammerhead AI, Hanwha Data Centers, Hitachi, NeuralWatt, Planted Solar, Skeleton Technologies, and Voltus. Through the Coalition, AI teams gain access to co-developed power - on-site solar and storage paired with flexible load and accelerated interconnection - enabling firm compute capacity in months, not years, while limiting upfront capital expenditure. Data centers that co-develop their own power and operate as dynamic grid assets earn faster interconnection, better economics, and community goodwill - improving local grid reliability by adding new clean capacity, while reducing local energy bills.

The Data Center Power Playbook and Coalition are both available now at datacenterpower.ai - where AI infrastructure teams, energy developers, and prospective coalition partners can explore the Playbook, connect with vetted partners, and apply to join the Coalition.

About the Data Center Power Coalition

The Data Center Power Coalition is a vetted group of energy partners convened by the Sijbrandij Foundation to make power co-development the fastest, most bankable path to powering AI infrastructure. Its open Data Center Power Playbook is a free, living framework for the industry, updated monthly. Both are available at datacenterpower.ai.

About the Sijbrandij Foundation

The Sijbrandij Foundation doesn't just fund ideas, it builds them. By incubating projects internally to prove concepts and de-risk execution, it allows successful initiatives to spin out as independent, high-impact organizations in order to scale. Founded by Sid Sijbrandij (co-founder of GitLab) and Karen Sijbrandij, and led by Paige Reeve, the Foundation backs new and under-resourced ways to have an outsized impact, with initiatives spanning cancer care, AI energy, education, philanthropy, and Big Art. Its Data Center Energy Initiative, led by Aric Li, works to solve the energy bottleneck facing AI infrastructure through power co-development - proving the model in practice to set a new industry standard. Learn more at sijbrandijfoundation.org.

Press Contact
aric@sijbrandijfoundation.org

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SOURCE: Sijbrandij Foundation