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TL;DR
Vantage reserved more than 1 gigawatt of factory capacity for Heron Power solid-state transformers designed to convert grid electricity to 800-volt DC. Separately, NiSource and Microsoft signed a 20-year power deal involving about 1,100 megawatts of generation and a 600-megawatt battery. The deals point to efforts to address rising AI power demand, but efficiency figures cited by equipment makers are vendor claims, not independent measurements.
Vantage’s reservation, reported as made on October 21, is for manufacturing capacity rather than a stated amount of electricity delivered to a data center. Heron Power’s solid-state transformer is designed to convert grid power to 800-volt DC and includes battery storage to help manage changes in demand. The source material does not specify the facilities, delivery schedule or final installed capacity tied to Vantage’s reservation.
On October 16, NiSource signed a 20-year power agreement with Microsoft that adds about 1,100 MW of generation and a 600 MW battery, according to the source report. It is a separate deal from Vantage’s equipment reservation. The report does not identify the generation technology, project locations, battery duration or detailed financial terms.
The cases arrive as data center power requirements rise. The International Energy Agency estimates global data center electricity use will increase from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030. The IEA also reports that AI server power density rose 11-fold between 2020 and 2025, and projects another fourfold increase by 2027. Those figures describe sector-wide estimates and projections, not the power use of either project.
Engineers are considering 800-volt DC because it can reduce the need to convert electricity repeatedly between AC and DC as power moves from a facility connection to computing equipment. NVIDIA’s reference design proposes converting 13.8-kilovolt grid power to 800-volt DC near the facility perimeter and distributing DC to high-power racks. NVIDIA says its approach could use 45% less copper than 415-volt AC distribution and deliver up to 5% better end-to-end efficiency than current 54-volt systems. These are company estimates, not independently verified results from operating data centers.
Infographic 01 · From grid to rack
AI racks near a megawatt are outgrowing the AC power chain.
Why the industry is moving to 800-volt direct current: fewer conversions, less copper, batteries on the main path. The numbers are vendor figures with different baselines, so they cannot be added up.
Today: many conversions
Typical AC chain from the grid to the rack
- Medium-voltage AC from the grid
- Transformer steps it down to low-voltage AC
- UPS converts to DC for the batteries and back to AC
- Distribution units feed the racks
- Every server power supply converts AC to DC again
Each stage loses energy, and almost all of the loss becomes heat the cooling system must remove.
800 V DC: convert once, outside
NVIDIA reference design, full-scale production planned with Kyber racks in 2027
- 13.8 kV AC from the grid
- Converted once to 800 V DC at the edge of the site, batteries on the same DC bus
- 800 V DC busway to the racks
- Stepped down inside the rack, for 1 MW racks and beyond
Bridge for existing halls: a “sidecar” cabinet next to the rack converts AC to 800 V DC, while the old chain stays in place.
Power lost per MW delivered to the rack
kW, SMA white-paper model vendor model
What NVIDIA says 800 V DC changes
NVIDIA’s engineering claims claim
Sources: NVIDIA technical blog (20 May 2025, updated 31 Jul 2025); SMA America, sponsored content in Utility Dive (26 Oct 2026). Rack density: IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI (Apr 2026) (AI server power density 11× from 2020 to 2025, a further 4× by 2027).
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Power Systems Are Becoming a Bottleneck
The deals point to a shift in the constraints facing AI expansion: securing electricity, grid connections and electrical equipment can take as long as, or longer than, obtaining computing hardware. The IEA says transformers can take two to three years to arrive and grid connections five to ten years in many places. That makes power planning a direct factor in when new data center capacity can open.
Higher-voltage DC distribution could reduce the amount of copper and conversion equipment required as rack power rises, if vendor projections hold up in practice. Batteries may help sites manage brief changes in load or interruptions, and could also interact with the wider grid. Their value depends on how they are operated, what services grid operators allow them to provide and whether the economics work for the site.
Electricity costs are also a public concern. The source report cites an EIA average residential price of 18.21 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2026, up from 17.30 cents in 2025, and a 41% rise in wholesale prices in the PJM region. Those figures do not establish that data centers caused the increases. The effect of new data center demand on household bills depends on local grid conditions, new supply and how utilities and regulators assign the cost of generation and network upgrades.
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From AC Server Rooms to High-Density Racks
Most data centers have historically received alternating current and converted it several times before servers use low-voltage DC. Transformers, uninterruptible power supplies and distribution equipment each play a role; conversion losses also produce heat that cooling systems must remove. That arrangement worked with lower-power racks but faces greater engineering demands as AI systems concentrate more GPUs and power in each rack.
NVIDIA’s proposed 800-volt architecture is intended for megawatt-scale racks, with full-scale production planned alongside its Kyber systems in 2027, according to the company. A Utility Dive article published October 26 describes a possible interim “sidecar” approach: a conversion cabinet beside a rack that can support 800-volt equipment in a hall designed around AC. The article was sponsored by inverter maker SMA America, and its modeled efficiency comparison should be treated as a vendor case, not independent testing.
Grid capacity remains a separate constraint. Berkeley Lab data cited in the source report put US generation and storage interconnection requests at about 2,300 gigawatts at the end of 2024; only 13% of earlier requests had been built. The queue is not a measure of projects certain to be constructed. It indicates that many proposed projects compete for connections, and that requests can be delayed, withdrawn or rejected.
“The design could use 45% less copper than 415 V AC distribution.”
— NVIDIA, describing its 800-volt DC design
Costs, Performance and Timelines Remain Open
The reported agreements do not establish when the transformer capacity will become equipment in service or when the generation and battery in NiSource’s deal will be operating. Details such as project locations, financing, battery duration, ownership and the precise allocation of electricity have not been provided in the source material.
It is also unclear how much 800-volt DC systems will improve efficiency across actual facilities. NVIDIA’s copper and efficiency figures, and SMA’s modeled comparison of power losses, are vendor claims or model results. Independent, like-for-like measurements from data centers using the systems are not included. The scale and timing of adoption will depend on equipment availability, compatibility with existing facilities, safety requirements and construction costs.
Battery deployment does not automatically mean a data center will lower electricity prices or support the grid. The IEA’s estimate of 20–25 GW of data center batteries by 2030 is a projection, and the agency says their potential grid role depends on incentives. Local effects on bills, reliability and emissions will vary with how projects are connected and operated.
Watch for Projects and Operating Data
The next useful milestones are details on Heron Power’s manufacturing schedule and on where Vantage’s reserved transformer capacity will be deployed, along with project and operating information for NiSource’s agreement with Microsoft. Those disclosures would clarify how quickly the announced plans may add usable power infrastructure.
For the technology itself, readers should look for independent measurements of energy losses, cooling needs, reliability and battery performance at operating data centers. NVIDIA has said full-scale production of its 800-volt design is planned for 2027; until deployments produce comparable results, projected savings should not be treated as settled outcomes. Utility filings and regulatory decisions may also show who pays for new generation, batteries and grid connections.
Key Questions
What did Vantage announce?
Vantage reserved more than 1 gigawatt of factory capacity for Heron Power solid-state transformers designed to convert grid power to 800-volt DC. The reservation is not itself a report of 1 GW of electricity already being delivered.
What is in the NiSource-Microsoft agreement?
The 20-year agreement includes about 1,100 MW of generation and a 600 MW battery, according to the source report. Details on locations, generation technology and battery duration were not provided there.
Why are data centers considering 800-volt DC?
Higher-voltage DC distribution is intended to move more power with less copper and fewer conversion steps as AI rack power increases. Efficiency and material savings cited by NVIDIA are company estimates, not independently verified results.
Will these deals reduce household electricity bills?
The source material does not establish that. The impact on bills depends on local electricity supply, grid upgrades, regulation and how costs are allocated between data center operators and other customers.
When could the new DC systems be used at scale?
NVIDIA has said full-scale production of its 800-volt design is planned with Kyber systems in 2027. The timing of Vantage’s equipment deployment and the NiSource-Microsoft projects was not specified in the source report.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
