Orcan Energy addresses grid and supply chain constraints in AI data centers

Munich, Germany, 02.04.2026 – Orcan Energy, a leading provider of Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) solutions, announces its strategic expansion into the AI data center market to address the hyperscale energy bottleneck. By deploying its proven Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology, the company enables operators to convert waste heat into affordable, baseload and clean electricity. Orcan Energy’s efficiency PACKs convert exhaust heat into up to 35% extra fuel-free, dispatchable power directly on-site, allowing data centers to bypass the need for new grid connections entirely while actively reducing the number of severely backlogged gas turbines or engines required to reach target capacity.

Major digital hubs face grid interconnection wait times of up to ten years, forcing hyperscalers to build on-site power plants using natural gas turbines. However, lead times for these primary generators can stretch to three years. Waiting for this equipment creates a massive financial liability and delays the deployment of critical AI compute capacity.

To meet the immense power demands of these hyperscale sites, Orcan Energy deploys its high-performance efficiency PACK eP 1000. Designed specifically for large-scale applications, the containerized system delivers a net electrical output of over 1 megawatt per unit. By employing an advanced turbine within the ORC circuit, the eP 1000 maximizes power generation from gas turbine exhaust profiles. Despite its megawatt-scale capacity, the eP 1000 maintains Orcan Energy’s standardized, modular design, ensuring the rapid, plug-and-play installation required to challenge multi-year supply chain bottlenecks.

Integrating Orcan Energy’s WHR systems fundamentally alters the timeline and thereby the economics of data center construction. By capturing waste heat, operators can generate 35% extra fuel-free on-site power per asset, allowing facilities to effectively operate with 25% less fuel consumption. Even more importantly, generating this additional power means sites can reach their target capacities with less primary equipment, such as installing three instead of four gas turbines. For example, a 260 MW_e data center that originally required 15 gas turbines can render four of those turbines obsolete by integrating ORC technology.

Gas turbines typically require a three-year delivery time. By bypassing the need for these extra turbines, DC operators achieve full site power nine months earlier in the example above, resulting in a 25% faster overall time-to-power and respectively earlier revenues. Furthermore, the modular ORC systems are delivered in under 12 months and installed in less than one month, ultimately delivering a Return on Investment of less than four years.

“The era of venting usable heat into the atmosphere is over," states Orcan Energy’s CEO Andreas Sichert. "By converting waste heat into immediate, on-site electricity, we offer data centers the fastest and most profitable route to adding capacity without waiting years for additional gas turbines."