CyrusOne and Eolian have announced a partnership to accelerate the deployment of a large-scale data center campus in Fort Worth, Texas, highlighting a growing trend toward closer alignment between digital infrastructure development and existing power grid assets.
The project, known as DFW7, is currently under construction and is designed to deliver up to 200 megawatts of data center capacity to meet rising demand from hyperscale cloud providers and large enterprise customers.
The collaboration brings together CyrusOne, a global data center owner and operator, and Eolian, a company with experience developing and operating battery energy storage systems across the United States. By leveraging existing high-voltage transmission infrastructure and substation capacity adjacent to the DFW7 site, the partners say they have significantly reduced the time required to bring new capacity online in one of the fastest-growing digital infrastructure markets in the country.
Central to the project is the co-location of the data center campus with an existing grid-scale battery energy storage system. Eolian’s Chisholm Grid facility, a 100-megawatt battery energy storage system located approximately seven miles northwest of downtown Fort Worth, began commercial operations in the ERCOT market in 2021. In 2023, Eolian identified the site’s high-voltage infrastructure and substation as a potential enabler for rapid data center expansion, recognizing that similar grid assets would be difficult and time-consuming to replicate elsewhere.
Following that assessment, CyrusOne and Eolian developed a joint approach that allowed CyrusOne to break ground on the DFW7 campus in April 2025. Rather than waiting for new transmission lines or substations to be built, the project is structured to optimize the use of existing electrical infrastructure, compressing development timelines while maintaining the scale required by hyperscale customers
Eric Schwartz, chief executive officer of CyrusOne, said the collaboration enables the company to respond more quickly to customer demand by delivering large-scale capacity beginning in 2026. He noted that working with an established energy infrastructure developer like Eolian allows CyrusOne to unlock locations that would otherwise face significant barriers to rapid development.
Enabling Long-Term Growth for AI Compute Workloads
As part of the transaction, Eolian plans to modernize and upgrade one of Texas’s earliest utility-scale battery energy storage systems, while the existing infrastructure will help supply energy to the initial phases of the data center campus. Eolian chief executive officer Aaron Zubaty described the project as a practical example of how existing grid assets can be used more efficiently to support new load growth, without immediately resorting to new transmission builds or additional industrial land use.
The Fort Worth campus is designed to support long-term growth in AI-driven compute and data-intensive workloads, sectors that are placing unprecedented demands on both data center capacity and power availability. By aligning digital infrastructure development with established grid-scale energy resources, the DFW7 project illustrates a potential model for addressing power constraints that are increasingly shaping site selection and deployment strategies across North America.
For enterprise and hyperscale customers, the collaboration signals a shift toward more integrated planning between data center operators and energy developers. As grid congestion and permitting timelines become more challenging, projects that can deliver “speed to power” using existing infrastructure may gain a competitive advantage.
Executive Insights FAQ
Why is the DFW7 project significant for the data center market?
It demonstrates how large-scale data centers can be deployed faster by leveraging existing power grid infrastructure.
How much capacity will the Fort Worth campus support?
The DFW7 campus is designed to deliver up to 200 megawatts of data center capacity.
What role does battery energy storage play in the project?
The data center is co-located with an existing grid-scale battery energy storage system, supporting early power availability.
When is the new capacity expected to come online?
CyrusOne expects to begin delivering large-scale capacity to customers starting in 2026.
Why is this model relevant for AI-driven growth?
AI workloads require both large amounts of power and rapid deployment, making efficient use of existing grid assets increasingly critical.
