INNIO & Rehlko Ink 1.25 GW Deal to Power AI and Grid Resilience

JENBACH, Austria – April 09, 2026 – INNIO Group today announced a landmark strategic framework agreement with energy resilience leader Rehlko, securing 1.25 gigawatts (GW) of gas engine capacity over the next three years. The massive deal is a direct response to the explosive, AI-driven growth in the data center industry and the increasing need for flexible power to maintain grid stability amid the global energy transition.

The agreement formalizes and significantly expands upon Rehlko's existing 700-megawatt reservation, locking in a critical supply of INNIO's Jenbacher and Waukesha gas engines. These engines are destined for mission-critical data center projects and flexible power generation facilities across key global markets, delivered through Rehlko's specialized in-house platform, Clarke Energy.

“With this framework agreement, we are strengthening our partnership with Rehlko and creating long‑term planning certainty in a market with rapidly growing demand,” commented Dr. Olaf Berlien, President and CEO of INNIO Group. “It ensures that our customers can continue to rely on proven technology and dependable execution, even in highly critical applications such as data centers and grid‑stabilization projects.”

Powering the Insatiable Digital Expansion

The scale of the agreement underscores a fundamental reality of the modern economy: the digital world is built on power, and its appetite is growing exponentially. The rise of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and massive data processing has triggered a construction boom for hyperscale and colocation data centers, each of which can consume as much electricity as a small city. Industry projections show the global data center power market soaring to over $21 billion by 2028, a trend supercharged by AI workloads that can require three to five times more power per server rack than traditional computing.

This voracious demand creates a significant challenge for data center operators who require uninterruptible, high-quality power on a massive scale. The INNIO-Rehlko deal is structured to meet this challenge head-on. By securing a multi-year supply of engines, Rehlko, through its Clarke Energy division, can provide data center developers with the certainty they need to execute rapid, multi-phase expansions.

“This agreement strengthens our ability to support customers making long‑term investments in data‑center infrastructure and flexible power generation,” said Brian Melka, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rehlko. “Securing multi‑year supply enhances visibility and confidence in delivery at a time when demand is being driven by structural, rather than cyclical, market forces.”

Clarke Energy, which has collaborated with INNIO for over three decades, will engineer and deliver these complex projects. The firm has extensive experience deploying resilient power solutions for data centers, often creating sophisticated microgrids that integrate gas engines with battery storage and other technologies to guarantee uptime.

A Strategic Bridge in the Energy Transition

Beyond the data center boom, the agreement highlights the evolving role of natural gas engines as a critical component of grid resilience. As nations integrate more intermittent renewable energy sources like solar and wind, the stability of the electrical grid becomes more fragile. The sun doesn't always shine, and the wind doesn't always blow, creating gaps in power supply that must be filled instantly to prevent blackouts.

This is where flexible gas engines excel. Unlike large, slow-to-start power plants, INNIO's engines can ramp up to full power in minutes, providing dispatchable energy that balances the grid and supports renewable penetration. They serve as a crucial backstop, ensuring reliability and preventing the volatility of renewable generation from destabilizing the power supply for millions.

Furthermore, these are not the generators of a bygone era. Modern gas engines represent a key transitional technology on the path to decarbonization. Clarke Energy specializes in deploying them in highly efficient Combined Cooling, Heat, and Power (CCHP) configurations, which capture waste heat to produce heating and cooling, pushing overall system efficiencies above 80%. This drastically reduces fuel consumption and emissions compared to sourcing electricity and thermal energy separately. Critically, these engines are also becoming increasingly fuel-flexible, with clear roadmaps to operate on renewable fuels like biomethane and even blends of green hydrogen, offering a pathway to near-zero carbon operations in the future.

Forging Alliances to Secure the Future

The 1.25 GW agreement is more than just a large order; it is a masterstroke of strategic supply chain management in a high-stakes global market. For Rehlko, which emerged as a standalone company from Kohler Energy in 2024 with backing from Platinum Equity, the deal is a powerful statement of intent. It de-risks its growth strategy by securing a critical component supply amidst potential global shortages, giving it a distinct advantage in a competitive landscape.

This long-term certainty allows Rehlko and Clarke Energy to offer their data center and utility clients something invaluable: confidence. With guaranteed access to engine capacity, they can commit to aggressive project timelines and complex, multi-year build-outs, positioning themselves as the premier partner for developing the world's next generation of digital and energy infrastructure.

For INNIO, the deal solidifies its market leadership and provides exceptional visibility into its production pipeline for the next three years. By strengthening its decades-long partnership with Clarke Energy, one of its most important global distributors, INNIO ensures its technology will be at the heart of the most dynamic sectors of the global economy. The agreement validates the performance, reliability, and flexibility of its engine portfolio and cements its role as a key enabler of both the digital revolution and the clean energy transition. This convergence of technology and energy infrastructure, as exemplified by this partnership, is set to define the industrial landscape for years to come.