Confidential · In Development
Birch NexusResilient Behind-the-Meter Power for AI, Defense, and Critical Infrastructure
Birch Nexus is a hydrogen-ready, behind-the-meter energy platform designed to support AI infrastructure, defense-adjacent operations, emergency response, and critical facilities that require reliable power during grid disruption.
- Phase 1 target
- 30–49 MW
- Integrated resources
- Solar + BESS
- Generation concept
- H₂-ready
- County, California
- San Bernardino
01 · Project overview
A private energy platform built for the next decade of compute.
Birch Nexus is a private behind-the-meter energy platform for AI compute, grid resilience, and scalable power development. The platform is structured to deliver dispatchable, reliable electrons directly to large industrial loads — beginning with a Phase 1 development in California's high-growth Inland Empire.
Audience
- · Infrastructure investors
- · Family offices
- · Strategic partners
- · Energy development stakeholders
02 · Phase 1 strategy
30–49 MW. Disciplined first build.
Right-sized first phase
A 30–49 MW Phase 1 footprint optimized for permitting velocity, deliverability, and behind-the-meter configuration adjacent to load.
Modular & scalable
Phase 1 is structured as a repeatable building block — designed to scale across additional sites as offtake demand grows.
Reliability first
Architecture engineered for high availability and resilience to serve mission-critical compute loads.
03 · Energy architecture
Hydrogen-ready generation, solar, and storage — integrated by design.
Hydrogen-ready generation
Primary generation engineered to transition to hydrogen as fuel infrastructure matures — future-proofing the platform's emissions profile.
Solar PV
Co-located photovoltaic generation contributing low-marginal-cost daytime electrons and offsetting fuel consumption.
Battery energy storage (BESS)
Storage for shaping, firming, and resilience — enabling round-the-clock delivery to behind-the-meter loads.
04 · Strategic location
San Bernardino County, California.
Inland Empire · Southern California
San Bernardino County sits at the intersection of California's load-growth corridor and the broader Western interconnection. The region combines high solar irradiance, large industrial-zoned parcels, and rapidly expanding data center and AI compute demand.
Siting Phase 1 in this market positions Birch Nexus directly adjacent to long-tenor power buyers without depending on constrained transmission build-out.
Why here
- California's Inland Empire is a leading data center growth market
- High solar irradiance suitable for co-located PV
- Large industrial-zoned parcels available at scale
- Proximity to load reduces transmission dependency
05 · Infrastructure advantage
Behind the meter. Beyond the queue.
Behind-the-meter
Direct delivery to host load avoids reliance on congested interconnection queues and transmission upgrades.
Dispatchable
Firm, dispatchable power profile suited to 24/7 industrial demand.
Hydrogen-ready
Architecture designed to accept hydrogen as a fuel pathway emerges.
Compute-aligned
Engineered to the reliability, density, and ramp characteristics AI compute requires.
06 · Market opportunity
The energy gap behind AI compute.
The build-out of AI compute is constrained less by chips than by available, reliable power. Hyperscale and colocation operators are actively seeking firm, scalable energy adjacent to load — at a pace traditional utility processes cannot meet alone. Birch Nexus is structured to address that gap directly.
Demand-driven
Power scarcity is now the binding constraint on data center growth.
Time-to-power matters
Behind-the-meter projects can deliver electrons faster than transmission-dependent peers.
Long-tenor buyers
Hyperscale and colocation operators contract for long durations at scale.
07 · Defense & critical infrastructure
Dual-use resilient energy for mission-critical operations.
Birch Nexus is designed as a dual-use energy infrastructure platform for mission-critical power needs across AI, defense-adjacent operations, emergency response, and critical infrastructure. The platform combines behind-the-meter generation, solar, battery storage, hydrogen-ready power, and a future secure energy orchestration layer to improve operational continuity when the grid is constrained, disrupted, or unavailable.
The Birch Nexus energy platform is intended to support an islandable microgrid architecture, allowing critical loads — communications, security systems, command operations, emergency response functions, and AI/edge compute — to maintain operations during grid outages, utility disruptions, wildfire shutoffs, or emergency conditions.
- Military installation energy resilience
- Islandable microgrid potential
- Hydrogen-ready long-duration backup
- Solar + battery integration
- Critical-load prioritization
- Cyber-secure energy management pathway
- West Coast emergency response support
- AI and edge-compute power reliability
- Wildfire, earthquake, and grid-outage resilience
DIU-relevant use cases
Resilience-oriented applications across West Coast critical operations:
- · Military installation resilience
- · Emergency command operations
- · AI and edge compute reliability
- · Long-duration backup power
- · West Coast critical infrastructure
- · Secure energy orchestration
Military installation resilience
Behind-the-meter energy architecture designed to support facilities that require reliable power during utility grid outages or constrained conditions.
Emergency command operations
Potential support for emergency response, communications, coordination centers, and continuity-of-operations power needs.
AI & edge compute reliability
Reliable power infrastructure for AI compute and edge processing where downtime creates operational, financial, or security risk.
Long-duration backup
Hydrogen-ready architecture designed to complement battery storage and support longer-duration resilience needs.
West Coast critical infrastructure
Strategic Southern California positioning for resilient energy serving logistics, emergency response, industrial, and defense-adjacent operations.
Secure energy orchestration
Birch Nexus is developing a pathway for secure energy orchestration through software-enabled monitoring, dispatch optimization, load prioritization, and resilience reporting — a future control layer applicable to commercial and defense-adjacent use cases.
Disclosure: Birch Nexus is not currently representing that it has a Department of Defense contract, DIU award, or military procurement agreement. The project is being positioned as a dual-use resilient energy platform with potential applicability to defense, emergency response, and critical infrastructure power needs.
08 · Development roadmap
A staged path to commercial operation.
- 1
Site control & land position
Securing land control in San Bernardino County for the Phase 1 footprint.
- 2
Energy architecture design
Hydrogen-ready generation paired with solar PV and battery energy storage system design.
- 3
Interconnection & permitting strategy
Behind-the-meter configuration and permitting pathway for the 30–49 MW Phase 1.
- 4
Anchor offtake engagement
Engagement with AI compute and data center energy buyers.
- 5
Phase 1 development capital
Development-stage capital formation with infrastructure investors and strategic partners.
- 6
Construction & commissioning
Build-out of Phase 1 generation, storage, and balance-of-plant.
- 7
Commercial operation
Phase 1 energization and commencement of behind-the-meter delivery.
09 · Request meeting
Engage with the Birch Nexus team.
We share confidential materials with qualified infrastructure investors, family offices, strategic partners, and energy development stakeholders under NDA.
ir@birchnexus.com