Hitachi, Brookfield, Hartree, and Tokyo Gas Launch Collaboration to develop green data centers with on-site power generation to meet rapidly growing AI demand

TOKYO, October 23, 2026 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (“Hitachi”), Brookfield Japan Kabushiki Kaisha("Brookfield"), Hartree Partners Singapore Pte. Limited (“Hartree”), and Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.(“Tokyo Gas”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on September 30 regarding collaboration to develop green data centers in Japan (“Collaboration”).

The MoU now includes Tokyo Gas, and builds on a previous MoU signed by Hitachi, Brookfield and Hartree(*1), which was announced in July 2025. The MoU demonstrates the continued commitment of all parties to develop green data centers in Japan. Through the MoU, the four companies will formulate a basic concept for power-integrated green data centers that generate their own energy, utilize it reliably and efficiently, and contribute to decarbonization through green energy and other related measures(*1), while promoting the development of a standardized model that can be deployed flexibly. This approach aims to reduce excessive reliance on the power grid, expand data center siting options, promote local production and consumption of energy, shorten project lead times, and enable scalable deployment. As the first projects under the Collaboration, the four companies plan to develop green data center projects in the Kanto and Kyushu regions.

Through the Collaboration, the four companies will combine their respective expertise to address the critical societal challenges of securing power, ensuring stable operations, and promoting decarbonization for AI data centers.

(*1) Press release issued on July 17, 2025: Hitachi, global investment firm Brookfield, and global commodities trading firm Hartree Begin to Explore a Funding Scheme in the Environmentally-friendly Digital Infrastructure Sector
(*2) Specifically, this refers to the implementation of measures contributes to the decarbonization of data centers by offsetting-fully or partially-greenhouse gas emissions generated during the lifecycle of the fuel, from mining to combustion, through the use of carbon credits (carbon offsetting) as well as through the use of non-fossil fuel certificates and other environmental attributes.

Background

In recent years, the spread of AI technologies and accelerating digitalization have driven a surge in data center construction, particularly in urban areas, leading to growing electricity demand in Japan. As longer lead times for securing power capacity due to grid constraints become increasingly apparent, greater importance is being placed on optimizing energy supply-including advanced coordination between power and communications networks at data centers-and enhancing resilience. At the same time, demand for decarbonized data centers is growing. As part of its Green Transformation (GX) initiatives, the Japanese government has advocated for the development of sustainable infrastructure, including the use of green energy and other related measures and the regional decentralization of data centers(*3). In addition to ensuring the reliability of facilities and power supply, the development of flexible infrastructure capable of responding to the accelerating advancement of AI technologies has become an important issue for stable data center operations. To address these challenges, demand is growing for a new model of data center infrastructure that can simultaneously ensure a stable power supply, achieve decarbonization, and meet the demands of AI.

(*3) Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, “Future Initiatives for Watt-Bit Collaboration.” (https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/001050386.pdf)

Further details about the MoU and the strengths of each company

The four companies aim to develop the following standardized model for green data center designed to achieve high reliability across both its energy supply and operations.

(1) Energy supply combining multiple power sources

The four companies will explore a highly reliable and efficient energy supply model that uses on-site generation facilities as the primary power source and combines multiple other sources, including battery storage and grid power.

(2) Redundancy across the entire infrastructure

The four companies will build redundancy into the entire data center infrastructure, including cooling and power distribution equipment, to maintain stable operations in the event of equipment failures or fluctuations in power supply.

(3) Definition of decarbonization requirements

The four companies will define requirements for data center decarbonization, including the utilization of carbon credits, environmental attributes, renewable energy, and other decarbonization measures.

(4) Standardization and modularization of major facilities

By standardizing and modularizing major facilities—including data center buildings and equipment, as well as on-site power plants and related equipment—the four companies aim to shorten data center project lead times and enable scalable deployment according to demand.

For more information: https://www.hitachi.com/content/dam/hitachi/global/en/press/files/2026/10/261019.pdf