NRG acquiring LS Power portfolio for nearly $10 billion to compete in “power-demand supercycle” of data centers

Utility player NRG Energy will pay nearly $10 billion for 18 natural gas-fired power plants from LS Power in a move designed to prepare NRG for a domestic power market that’s set to soar.

The acquisition, which was announced May 12, essentially doubles NRG’s gas power generation to help fuel the oncoming data center construction boom and to add enough quick-start power plants that help balance electric grids with supplies of intermittent renewable energy.

“We are in the early stages of a power-demand supercycle...