Brighton-based Bratic Energy says hyperscale AI data centers could generate 100% of their electricity on-site — potentially reducing pressure on Michigan’s grid and protecting ratepayers from costly upgrades.
SALINE TOWNSHIP — Michigan’s coming wave of hyperscale artificial intelligence data centers could consume enormous amounts of electricity, raising questions about whether utilities will have to build billions of dollars of new generation and transmission infrastructure — and who ultimately will pay for it.
Elon Musk has decided he doesn’t necessarily have to wait for the electric grid.
And a Michigan energy company says data center developers here don’t have to, either.
Musk has acquired APR Energy, a company specializing in rapidly deployable power generation, in a deal reportedly valued at more than $1 billion. The acquisition potentially gives Musk another way to supply the enormous electricity requirements of his expanding artificial intelligence operations.
Brighton-based Bratic Enterprise founder Stevan Bratic says the same basic strategy could work in Michigan:
Bring the power generation to the data center instead of bringing another enormous electrical load to the grid.
Bratic told MITechNews his company could design an on-site power system capable of supplying the entire electricity requirement of a hyperscale data center.
“Without a doubt,” Bratic said when asked whether on-site generation could reduce the amount of generation and transmission DTE Energy otherwise might need to provide.
“We could offset 100% of the energy used with on-site power generation.”
If Bratic is right, that could have significant implications as Michigan attempts to capture billions of dollars of AI investment without forcing residential and business customers to subsidize the infrastructure required to power it.
Saline Shows How Much Electricity AI Requires
The issue is particularly relevant in Saline Township, where OpenAI, Oracle, Related Digital and their partners are developing the massive Stargate data center campus known as The Barn.
OpenAI has described the development as a 1-gigawatt data center campus.
One gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts. One gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts. If a facility actually drew that much electricity continuously, it would consume about 8.76 million megawatt-hours in a year — roughly 7 percent of all the electricity generated in Michigan in 2024.
In other words, the Saline data center’s potential power demand isn’t comparable to a neighborhood or even a typical small city. It is electricity demand on the scale of a major metropolitan area.
That’s the scale of electricity demand forcing Michigan policymakers, utilities and communities to reconsider how power should be supplied to the next generation of data centers.
AI facilities consume tremendous amounts of electricity because thousands of advanced processors operate around the clock, along with cooling systems and other supporting equipment.
And Saline isn’t expected to be Michigan’s last hyperscale data center.
Projects proposed across the state could create several gigawatts of additional electricity demand as technology companies race to build the computing infrastructure required for artificial intelligence.
Musk’s Answer: Bring Your Own Power
Musk’s acquisition suggests access to electricity is becoming as strategically important to AI companies as access to computing chips.
APR Energy specializes in rapidly deployable generating systems, including gas-turbine technology.
Rather than waiting years for a utility to build generating plants, transmission lines and substations, a data center operator potentially could place generating equipment close to the computing facility itself.
Data center developers across the country increasingly are examining dedicated natural-gas generation, renewable energy, battery storage and even nuclear power as alternatives or supplements to traditional utility service.
The reason is straightforward:
AI infrastructure can be built faster than America’s electric infrastructure can be expanded.
Michigan Company Says It Could Power A Hyperscale Data Center
Bratic says Michigan could take a similar approach using microgrids that combine several technologies rather than relying on a conventional power plant running on a single fuel.
For a hyperscale data center, Bratic said that could include natural-gas generation — potentially using a hydrogen-natural gas blend — combined with solar, geothermal energy and energy storage.
Heat-recovery systems could capture waste heat from generating equipment to offset some heating and cooling requirements.
Bratic also proposes using supercapacitors to respond to rapid fluctuations in electricity demand created by GPUs and CPUs, while battery systems could provide backup electricity.
He advocates solid-state batteries for some applications because he says they could reduce thermal-runaway and fire risks associated with conventional lithium-ion battery systems.
The result effectively would be a miniature electric system built around the data center, with the utility grid potentially serving as a supplemental rather than sole source of electricity.
Could This Keep Data Center Costs Off Your Electric Bill?
That’s where the concept becomes particularly interesting for Michigan consumers.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced a voluntary Michigan Affordability and Responsible Growth pledge under which participating data center companies agree that residential customers should not be forced to pay costs created by enormous new data center loads.
Michigan also is encouraging developers to “build, bring, or buy” additional electricity resources when needed.
Bratic argues that generating electricity directly at the data center could go further.
“This is a concern with almost all data centers being built globally,” Bratic said.
He argues that even when developers pay costs directly associated with connecting their data centers, broader generation and transmission investments can affect other electricity customers.
Michigan’s high-voltage transmission network includes infrastructure operated by ITC Holdings, meaning the data center debate isn’t limited to DTE Energy and Consumers Energy.
“On-site generation would avoid all these added fees and costs,” Bratic said.
Whether a fully or largely self-powered data center actually would reduce Michigan residential electricity rates — and by how much — would depend on utility rate structures, transmission costs, regulatory decisions and the economics of individual projects.
But Bratic’s proposal raises an important alternative:
Instead of determining how utilities can accommodate gigantic new electricity customers, why not require or encourage those customers to bring substantial amounts of their own generating capacity?
Bratic Already Uses The Concept To Bypass Grid Constraints
For Bratic, bringing electricity generation directly to the customer isn’t merely theoretical.
His company already uses the principle in electric-vehicle charging.
Bratic Enterprise offers mobile DC fast chargers powered by natural gas. The natural gas generates the electricity used by the charger, meaning the unit doesn’t have to plug into the electric grid to charge an EV.
Using natural gas to charge an electric vehicle may sound counterintuitive.
But Bratic says it solves a practical problem increasingly familiar to businesses trying to electrify: What happens when the grid can’t deliver enough power where it’s needed?
Bratic said conventional DC fast-charging projects can take months while utilities determine how much electricity is available at a proposed location.
“We can’t even get EV charger projects using DC Fast Charging because the utilities struggle to even know what’s available,” Bratic said.
The mobile charger sidesteps that bottleneck by bringing its own source of electricity.
Bratic argues that the same principle could be applied on a vastly larger scale to artificial intelligence data centers: generate electricity where it is consumed rather than placing the entire new load on the electric grid.
He also argues that on-site generation could provide additional reliability for data centers while reducing pressure on the public grid.
Saline Already Plans Closed-Loop Water Cooling
Electricity isn’t the only concern surrounding hyperscale data centers.
Water consumption, battery safety and noise also have emerged as concerns in communities where large data centers are proposed.
The Saline Township project already plans to address the water issue with a closed-loop cooling system designed to recirculate water rather than continuously drawing large quantities of fresh water for cooling.
Bratic says his proposed power-generation system likewise could incorporate closed-loop cooling, minimizing additional water requirements associated with on-site generation.
He also advocates solid-state batteries for some applications to reduce fire risks.
But Bratic raises another potential neighborhood issue that has received less attention:
Noise.
Battery systems, cooling fans, HVAC equipment, inverters, transformers and generating equipment can operate around the clock.
Bratic estimates some large battery equipment can produce sound levels of roughly 70 to 90 decibels at the equipment, depending on the system and operating conditions.
He says acoustic fencing, concrete enclosures, sound-insulated buildings and strategic placement of equipment can reduce the impact on neighboring properties.
Bratic believes noise mitigation “should be a standard in data center development.”
Could Data Center Power Become A Michigan Industry?
If Michigan’s data center boom creates demand for dedicated power generation, it also could create a new supply chain around that infrastructure.
Bratic sees opportunities for electricians, pipefitters, millwrights and other skilled trades involved in installing and maintaining generation and energy-storage equipment.
“There is a ton of opportunities for job creation and workforce development,” Bratic said. “And these would be good-paying union jobs.”
Those jobs wouldn’t necessarily disappear when construction ends.
Generators, turbines, battery systems, switchgear, cooling equipment and microgrid controls require continuing maintenance, repair and eventual replacement.
For Michigan — already home to a large manufacturing base and skilled-trades workforce — the data center power problem therefore could become another economic-development opportunity.
But On-Site Natural Gas Has A Trade-Off
Moving electricity generation behind the meter doesn’t eliminate every problem.
It changes some of them.
Natural-gas turbines produce carbon dioxide and other emissions. Musk’s xAI operations in the Memphis area already have faced controversy over temporary gas turbines used to provide electricity for AI computing.
Michigan also has adopted clean-energy requirements that utilities and large electricity users must navigate as the state’s data center industry expands.
Bratic’s proposed approach attempts to address that issue by combining natural gas with other technologies, potentially including hydrogen blends, solar, geothermal energy, heat recovery and energy storage.
Whether such a combination could meet Michigan’s clean-energy requirements economically at hyperscale would need to be determined project by project.
But the broader concept remains:
Bring new electricity supply with the data center instead of simply bringing a massive new electricity customer to the existing grid.
The Bigger Question For Michigan
Michigan wants data centers.
They represent billions of dollars in investment, construction activity and the possibility of positioning the state as an important part of America’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure.
But the industry’s enormous appetite for electricity is forcing Michigan to answer a fundamental question.
Should the state continually expand its electric grid to accommodate enormous new hyperscale customers?
Or should the largest data centers be expected to bring substantial amounts of new power generation with them?
Musk’s billion-dollar bet on APR Energy suggests one of the world’s most aggressive AI developers believes bringing power directly to computing facilities may be part of the answer.
Now a Michigan company is making much the same argument.
If Bratic is right, Michigan may have another option besides continually expanding the electric grid to accommodate hyperscale AI.
Bring the power plant with the data center.
If you want more details on Bratic Enterprise, email [email protected]
