Applied Digital has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Base Electron for capacity and energy from an approximately 1.2-gigawatt natural-gas power plant planned in Center, North Dakota. The contract was signed October 4, 2026 and disclosed in Applied Digital’s October 7 quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Key Takeaways
- Applied Digital signed a 15-year PPA with Base Electron on October 4.
- The agreement covers capacity and energy from an approximately 1,200 MW natural-gas generation facility planned in Center, North Dakota.
- The plant is intended to provide dedicated generation for the Polaris Forge 3 AI data center campus.
- The contract uses fixed monthly payments based on target contract capacity.
- Base Electron can terminate the PPA if the power project has not reached financial close by March 31, 2027.
- Applied Digital owns roughly 10% of Base Electron, making this a related-party transaction that received review from a dedicated board committee.
The primary source is Applied Digital’s October 7 Form 10-Q. The filing says the PPA and a related credit-support agreement cover capacity and energy from the proposed 1.2 GW plant and describes the generation as intended for the company’s Polaris Forge 3 campus.
The Plant Was Known. The Power Contract Is New.
The 1.2 GW generation project itself is not a new October development. In March, Babcock & Wilcox announced a $2.4 billion design-build agreement with Base Electron covering four 300 MW natural-gas boiler and steam-turbine systems.
What changed this month is the commercial relationship between Applied Digital and the plant. The new SEC filing confirms that Applied Digital is now contractually positioned as a long-term buyer of the project’s power through a 15-year agreement.
That distinction matters. A proposed power plant and a signed long-term offtake agreement are different stages of project development. The PPA provides a clearer revenue path for the generator while giving Applied Digital a defined route to large-scale power for future AI infrastructure.
The Deal Runs for 15 Years
Applied Digital’s filing says the PPA has a 15-year delivery term and requires fixed monthly payments based on target contract capacity. The filing does not disclose the monthly payment amount or a total nominal contract value.
The contract also contains an important development condition: Base Electron may terminate the PPA if financial close for the generation facility has not occurred by March 31, 2027. That means the agreement is significant, but it is not the same as saying the 1.2 GW plant is fully financed or operating.
Applied Digital’s latest earnings-call discussion places the Base Electron capacity primarily around 2030. Management said the project is part of a broader effort to expand power availability around its North Dakota campuses.
Applied Digital Owns Part of Its Power Supplier
The relationship is not an ordinary arm’s-length utility contract. Applied Digital says it owned approximately 10% of Base Electron as of October 4. The quarterly filing also says Base Electron is owned and managed in part by Applied Digital officers and directors acting in their individual capacities.
Applied Digital CEO Wes Cummins also serves as Base Electron’s CEO, while Applied Digital President Jason Zhang serves as Base Electron’s president and secretary. Because of that overlap, Applied Digital says its board approved the PPA and credit-support agreement after review and recommendation by a dedicated Base Electron Related Party Transaction Committee.
The filing separately says Applied Digital carried a roughly $2 million equity investment in Base Electron and a related-party promissory-note receivable of about $59 million as of August 31. Applied Digital classifies Base Electron as a variable-interest entity but says it is not the primary beneficiary and therefore does not consolidate it.
Why 1.2 GW Matters
AI infrastructure developers increasingly face the same bottleneck: data halls can be designed faster than utilities can always deliver new megawatts. BitcoinVersus.Tech recently covered natural-gas generation becoming a fast-track option for AI data center power as developers look for alternatives to multi-year grid queues.
Applied Digital is taking that approach to a much larger scale. A 1.2 GW generating station is several times larger than the critical IT load planned for the first Polaris Forge 3 development, giving the project potential relevance to later campus expansion and the surrounding grid if it reaches commercial operation.
Polaris Forge 3 Already Has a Hyperscale Lease
Applied Digital previously announced a hyperscale lease for Polaris Forge 3, a campus spanning more than 600 acres and designed for approximately 300 MW of critical IT load. Initial operations have been targeted for 2027, well before the Base Electron generation is expected to become the primary expansion driver around 2030.
The company’s broader AI buildout is already producing revenue. BitcoinVersus.Tech reported this week that Applied Digital’s quarterly revenue jumped 322% as more AI-factory capacity came online. The gap between current operations and long-term contracted capacity is largely a construction-and-power execution problem.
What the Filing Does Not Confirm
The October filing does not say the power plant has reached financial close, started commercial operation or completed construction. It does not disclose the total dollar value of the 15-year PPA, the exact contracted MW Applied Digital must take in each year or the final delivered electricity price.
It also does not eliminate the wider regulatory and infrastructure risks facing large-load projects. BitcoinVersus.Tech recently covered federal pressure to make large data centers shoulder more of the generation and grid costs their demand creates. Different grid regions use different rules, but the economic question is similar: enormous AI loads increasingly need a credible answer to who builds and pays for their power.
Bottom Line
The October 7 SEC filing turns Base Electron’s previously announced 1.2 GW North Dakota power project into a more concrete part of Applied Digital’s expansion plan. Applied Digital has now signed a 15-year agreement to buy capacity and energy from the facility.
The next milestone is financing. If Base Electron reaches financial close, the project would give Applied Digital a dedicated large-scale generation source for Polaris Forge 3 and potentially broader North Dakota expansion. If it does not reach financial close by March 31, 2027, Base Electron has the right to terminate the PPA.
Editor’s Note: The PPA term, 1.2 GW project size, fixed-payment structure, financing deadline, ownership relationship and board review are confirmed in Applied Digital’s October 7, 2026 Form 10-Q. The power plant itself was announced earlier in 2026. This story focuses on the newly disclosed long-term power contract and its conditions.
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