American Electric Power and Aspire Energy Express sign pipeline deal.
Aspire Energy Express, the Ohio subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities, has partnered with American Electric Power (AEP) to build and operate an intrastate natural gas pipeline to serve a fuel cell facility set to power a data center behind-the-meter.
The new natural gas pipeline will cost approximately $10 million to build and is expected to be operational in the first half of 2027.
"This project is a clear example of how Chesapeake Utilities Corporation continues to execute on our growth strategy by leveraging our core capabilities," said Jeff Sylvester, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation.
Aspire Energy was founded in 2020, and is wholly owned by Chesapeake. It operates as an intrastate pipeline company within the Ohio market. Chesapeake is a natural gas company that operates primarily across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Midwest regions. According to its website, the company has more than 2,100 miles of natural gas distribution mains, distributing natural gas to more than 110,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
While not confirmed, the natural gas pipeline is likely to serve a Bloom Energy fuel cell facility. In November, Bloom signed a supply agreement with AEP for up to 1GW of power to supply AI data center sites across Ohio. Bloom agreed to supply an initial 100MW of cells, with an expansion order expected in 2025.
Bloom is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFCs) developer. SOFCs are electrochemical devices that can convert the chemical energy of a fuel - such as hydrogen or natural gas - into electric energy, using a solid oxide as the electrolyte. SOFCs, especially when run on hydrogen, offer much lower carbon emissions. In addition, due to their high operating temperature, they can also be used for heating, cooling, or other industrial processes.
Bloom is by far the biggest player in the data center market. Last month, the company signed a deal with Oracle to deploy fuel cells onsite at several data centers in the US. The company has also signed deals with Equinix, CoreWeave, and Quanta. However, last year it saw a deal with Amazon Web Services fall through.
