Energy Concepts introduced a modular platform that lets data centers generate their own electricity, water and captured carbon on-site, without drawing power from the utility grid or water from a municipal supply. The company, based in Rochester, N.Y., unveiled the system, named Plato5X and patent pending, on Aug. 7, 2026.
Each 5 MW module produces 5,000 kilowatts of electricity, 12,000 gallons of water and 11,000 gallons of food-grade liquid carbon dioxide per day, while capturing more than 90% of the carbon dioxide from its own combustion, Energy Concepts said. The company says the captured gas is converted into a food-grade liquid form suitable for commercial and industrial use.
How the system works
Plato5X combines four technologies in one on-site unit. Natural gas cogeneration burns gas to generate electricity and captures the leftover heat instead of venting it. Absorption cooling then uses that heat, rather than electricity, to drive cooling. The platform also includes water recovery and carbon capture equipment. Energy Concepts built the system for high-density AI and cloud computing facilities and says it scales from smaller edge sites to hyperscale campuses.
At a 100 MW scale, the company says the platform could produce up to 240,000 gallons of water per day, which it compares to the daily water use of about 300 U.S. households, along with 220,000 gallons of food-grade liquid carbon dioxide per day.
"AI growth is creating unprecedented infrastructure challenges," said William Cristofaro, president of Energy Concepts. He said the next generation of data centers needs to become more self-sufficient, generating their own power and water and capturing their own carbon rather than adding load to public infrastructure.
Energy Concepts said the system can be financed, built and operated separately from a data center's own space. Cristofaro said the concept is not limited to data centers, and that the platform can serve any facility that needs large amounts of electric power, cooling and heat.
