AI is driving unprecedented electricity demand. Gigawatts of new data centers are being developed faster than traditional generation and transmission infrastructure can be built, intensifying pressure on an already strained grid.
To date, this buildout has focused first on creating the necessary capacity to support the industry’s continued growth. At the same time, communities across the country are looking for solutions that support this historic growth while delivering advantages closer to home.
Madison's Community Infrastructure initiative flips this dynamic, seeking to build trust and value with communities first through distributed local infrastructure and then as aligned partners in AI’s continued expansion.
“AI requires power at a speed and scale we’ve never seen before, and building that infrastructure successfully requires more than capacity,” said Richard Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Madison Energy Infrastructure. “Community Infrastructure is about helping AI labs and hyperscalers show up for communities, not just in them. We’ve spent years cultivating the right relationships, development capabilities, and national ecosystem needed to turn that idea in to local energy infrastructure at scale.”
While large-scale generation will remain essential, it cannot, alone, address surging demand or local concerns about rising electricity prices and resource constraints. Distributed solar and energy storage infrastructure complement those investments by bringing new capacity online faster, cheaper, and closer to where electricity is consumed, helping residents, businesses, and utilities manage rising costs and grid constraints.
The announcement builds on an ecosystem Madison has spent years creating, combining institutional capital and national scale with local development, community engagement, utility relationships, and market expertise to build more than 600 projects across more than 30 states and a growing pipeline of distributed energy infrastructure serving utilities, businesses, municipalities, and data centers.
Projects and partnerships already underway include:
“Maintaining a resilient and reliable electric system is more important than ever,” said Chris Hildred, Chief Energy Supply Officer at CORE Electric Cooperative. “Partnering with Madison will allow us to deploy distributed energy storage at scale, helping enhance grid resilience, support reliability during periods of high demand, and position our system to meet our communities’ future energy needs.”
Alex Darden, Head of EQT Infrastructure, Americas, said, "Power availability is increasingly the gating factor for how fast AI infrastructure can scale, and that pressure is further straining local grids. Community Infrastructure will help deliver reliable, affordable energy for communities in partnership with AI infrastructure developers as this build out accelerates."
To deliver an additional 1 GW by 2028, Madison will leverage its utility relationships, market expertise, national project pipeline, and network of regional developers through AccelDev. Madison’s operating portfolio is expected to surpass 1 GW later this fall. The Community Infrastructure initiative targets another gigawatt by 2028, effectively doubling the company’s energy infrastructure footprint in two years.
