RWE Plans $20 Billion Expansion in U.S. to Meet Data Center Demand — 2nd Update

By Adam Whittaker

Germany's RWE plans to invest around $20 billion in renewable energy and gas-fired power plants in the U.S. as it seeks to cash in on growing energy demand from data centers.

The energy company said Thursday that it would spend around 17 billion euros ($19.66 billion) over the next five years on U.S. power assets. These include gas-fired power plants, onshore wind farms, solar power plants and battery-storage facilities.

The investment accounts for nearly half of the 35 billion euros the company plans to spend globally over the period. RWE expects the spending to drive average adjusted earnings per share growth of 12% a year over the next five years, translating into 10% annual increases in its dividend.

The U.S. is going to require multiple energy sources and technologies to meet its fundamentally strong energy demand, finance chief Michael Mueller said. The company wants to use the gas-fired plants and battery stored energy to complement renewable energy sources, he added.

RWE is betting on the energy needs of the U.S. at a time when data centers are being built quickly and placing a strain on the country's grid. Data centers could make up nearly half of the country's electricity demand over the next five years, the International Energy Agency predicts.

A typical data center that fuels artificial-intelligence systems consumes as much electricity as 100,000 households, but some of the facilities under construction will consume 20 times that amount, according to the IEA.

Gas power plants are one of the preferred means of generating the electricity that data centers need because they pollute less than coal, and are less complex to operate than nuclear plants.

RWE said it would invest in U.S. flexible-generation assets, including gas assets which can be ramped up to full capacity at short notice to manage volatile swings in electricity demand, or balance unpredictable supply from renewable sources. The U.S. spending push should take its installed capacity in the country to 22 gigawatts by 2031 from 13 gigawatts presently.

For 2025, RWE reported a net profit of 3.13 billion euros, down from 5.135 billion euros, on revenue that dropped to 17.63 billion euros from 24.22 billion euros.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 12, 2026 08:29 ET (12:29 GMT)