DBT Bureau
Pune, 16 Sep 2025
Blackstone said that private equity funds affiliated with Blackstone Energy Transition Partners have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Hill Top Energy Center, a 620-megawatt natural gas power plant in Western Pennsylvania for nearly $1 billion, from Ardian, a global private investment firm.
This transaction follows Blackstone’s recent July 2025 announcement that it would invest over $25 billion to support the build out of Pennsylvania’s digital and energy infrastructure supporting the AI revolution and help catalyze an additional $60 billion investment into the Commonwealth.
Hill Top is one of the newest and most efficient combined cycle gas turbine plants in the country with among the best-in-class operating performance – situated in an area of the country that is well suited to serve as a strategic hub to power America’s AI future. Completed in 2021 and located in Greene County, Pennsylvania, Hill Top will continue to help support the power needs related to data center development and other use cases in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (“PJM”) electric market.
Bilal Khan, a Senior Managing Director, and Mark Zhu, a Managing Director, at Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, said: “The electricity infrastructure required to power the AI revolution requires a tremendous amount of capital. We are proud to make our latest investment in this sector – which is among our highest conviction investment themes – in Western Pennsylvania. Hill Top is among the best-in-class and a highly efficient modern power generation facility that is exceptionally well positioned to help Pennsylvania and the region serve as a key center of AI innovation.”
“In addition to the historic $25 billion investment they announced at our Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh this summer, I am thrilled to see Blackstone deepening its commitment to Pennsylvania’s energy infrastructure,” said Senator Dave McCormick.
Blackstone is a leader in investing in the infrastructure powering AI – across not just energy but a wide array of areas. Blackstone is the largest data center provider in the world with major investments in both Pennsylvania and globally. Blackstone also recently made an investment in Potomac Energy Center, a 774-megawatt natural gas power plant in Loudoun County, Virginia, and has been in late stage development or construction for approximately 1,600 megawatts of new-build power generation capacity over the last three and a half years in the United States.
Santander and Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis served as a legal advisor to Blackstone Energy Transition Partners on this transaction.
