The rapid growth of AI and high-performance computing is creating an unprecedented need for new data centers with dedicated high-reliability power. Both traditional generators and new entrants, including infrastructure, midstream, and industrial operators, are developing generation assets to serve this demand. Many are doing so under private, long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that deliver power directly to a single customer or co-located data center, operating outside of ISO/RTO markets.

This model blends industrial reliability with commercial sophistication. Power plants built for specific data center customers, designed for behind-the-meter operation today but engineered to be market-ready for future grid participation. 

The challenge

Whether a long-time utility or a company entering the generation space for the first time, producers face a new class of commercial and operational challenges.  Traditional ETRM or utility billing systems were not designed to manage:

• High-frequency (15-minutes) metering data from multiple generation units and customers
• Validation, estimation, and aggregation of metered data for settlement
• Complex, customer-specific PPA terms governing price, quantity and index calculations
• Integration with upstream fuel, scheduling, and control systems without reliance on ISO infrastructure
• Future flexibility to connect to organized markets or expand to multi-customer data centers.

The solution

Capco, in partnership with Hartigen, delivers the PowerOptix platform as a modern, flexible meter-to-cash backbone that supports both behind-the-meter and market-connected generation models.
PowerOptix enables:

• Comprehensive meter data management (MDM) – Ingests, validates, estimates, and aggregates five, fifteen, and sixty minutes metering data across multiple plants and meters
• Automated settlement and invoicing – Applies PPA terms, contractual formulas and schedules to generate accurate, auditable customer invoices
• Market-ready design – Provides market-grade data structures, pricing logic, and integration capabilities to support ISO participation when market connectivity becomes advantageous, including the reporting, settlement, and compliance requirements associated with wholesale market activity such as FERC Electric Quarterly Reporting (EQR)
• Multi-customer support – Handles complex offtake arrangements, such as multi-tenant or shared data-center customers, with individualized billing and allocation logic
• Transparency and auditability – Delivers clear visibility into metering, fuel and settlement data for both the generator and its customers.

Visual Summary:  

Capco’s phased-but-overlapping delivery model accelerates configuration, integration, and testing, while ensuring governance, knowledge transfer, and long-term self-sufficiency for client operations.

Why it matters

This solution provides a repeatable model for generators, both traditional and new market entrants, to commercialize power assets efficiently and flexibly. It enables them to:

• Monetize generation assets through private PPAs while remaining ready for market participation
• Support multiple customers or offtakers within a single data center or generation site
• Reduce time-to-invoice and settlement complexity through automation
• Improve transparency, auditability and customer trust through consistent data management
• Scale quickly as additional plants or customers come online.

In our next article in this series, we explore why behind-the-meter generation has become the critical foundation for AI-era energy strategies and how reliability, economics, and carbon control are reshaping generation design.

Future installments in this series will dive deeper into emerging generation technologies (SMR and hybrid), evolving ownership and commercial models, and the digital frameworks enabling transparent, auditable power monetization.

Key takeaway

The future of power is hybrid: behind the meter today, market-connected tomorrow. 

Capco and Hartigen are enabling both established and emerging power producers to commercialize generation assets with confidence, transparency, and profitability in the era of intelligent energy.

As Hartigen’s strategic system integration partner, Capco helps clients bridge the gap between operational energy systems and commercial data platforms.  Together, we enable companies, whether traditional utilities, IPPs, or non-traditional entrants, to stand up the digital and commercial foundation required to compete in the rapidly evolving AI power economy.