Babcock & Wilcox on November 4, 2025, signed a “limited notice to proceed” with a $1.5 billion project to design and install power plants for Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD), a Dallas-based data center developer.

In the project for Applied Digital, Babcock & Wilcox will install four 300-megawatt natural gas-fired power plants consisting of boilers and associated steam turbines. The plants are expected to begin operation in 2028.

The advantage of the Babcock & Wilcox boiler and steam turbine technology is that it delivers efficiency comparable with the simple-cycle gas turbines, while enabling faster deployment.

While the exact final site address hasn’t been publicly disclosed, the power plant is intended to serve Applied Digital’s AI data center campus facilities in North Dakota — specifically locations in that state where Applied Digital is building and expanding its infrastructure.

Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory campus in Ellendale, North Dakota — an existing data center site where Applied Digital is delivering AI infrastructure capacity.

Polaris Forge 2 campus near Harwood (Cass County), North Dakota — a planned/under-construction AI data center campus north of Fargo that is part of the company’s expansion.

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: BW), an Akron company that provides energy and environmental products and services for power and industrial markets.