Spencer Viernes and Rhea Williams on E3 Platform’s MDIPS

Spencer Viernes, CEO, and Rhea Williams, Chief Commercial Officer, launched E3 Platforms (E3) two years ago to address a widening gap between power supply and demand in the data centre sector. 

The company develops what it calls Master-Planned Digital Infrastructure Parks (MDIPs) – large-scale industrial developments that combine land development, power generation and digital infrastructure on sites spanning over 1,000 acres.

"Our core mission is to deploy a business model that benefits the digital infrastructure industry, especially where it sits today," says Spencer. 

“There’s a huge gap between where the supply of power capacity is and where the demand for it is – all while balancing that with the needs of the communities in which those digital infrastructure developers would deploy those specific projects.”

The company emerged from recognition that traditional development models no longer serve the data centre industry's needs. Rhea was working in Europe when power constraints began appearing in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London. Virginia started experiencing similar issues around the same time.

"Spencer came to me three years ago now, almost, and saw that there was going to be a gap in where the utility had always been able to provide a load letter and supply the energy needed for the data centre," Rhea says. "We had originally come in thinking that we would be building data centres and going to be supplying a small bit of behind-the-metre power to bridge the gap until the utility was able to meet us. But things have grown exponentially and changed in the industry since that inception."

Master Planned Digital Infrastructure Parks combine economic development and energy infrastructure

E3's Master Planned Digital Infrastructure Parks rest on three pillars: economic development, energy and environmental sustainability. 

These elements form what the company describes as a framework for long-term community transformation rather than isolated industrial development.

Traditional economic development metrics often fail to resonate with local elected officials in rural communities. These jurisdictions typically lack the internal staff to conduct input-output economic modelling common in metropolitan areas.

"To say to the community, ‘Hey, for every dollar we spend here in the community, there's going to be $6 additional economic development in this community’, is all well and good,” says Spencer. 

“Yes, you can point to PwC reports or McKinsey reports. But a lot of these communities don't even have the internal staff to do traditional input-output economic modelling that you would see from a large metropolitan area. But they want things in plain English: show me real jobs that are coming into my community."

Spencer prefers to present the opportunities accessibly, in ways local communities can support.

"The schools will get bigger, the community colleges, the trade schools, the local tradesmen and contractors will all grow to such a significant degree," Spencer says. "It's not just about expanding broadband access and connectivity, which it is, but it's about creating the foundational elements that allow for true sustainable development across decades, not just years."

The company also considers environmental sustainability beyond carbon capture. Initial fuel sources will likely be natural gas, but E3 plans for nuclear power as regulatory frameworks develop. The scale of these parks allows consideration of district heating systems that could provide industrial customers and local residents with waste heat.

Rhea emphasises the data centre industry's role in driving renewable energy deployment. She cites how the major cloud providers – Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon Web Services (AWS) – provided the capital that established wind and solar capacity across the United States.

"I think that necessity-driving invention is going to push us towards nuclear faster because of this exponential growth in AI, and I think that that's going to transform the country in how we all consume and use power, and makes everything much, much, much cleaner," Rhea says.

E3 expects to deliver electrons within 12 to 18 months. Spencer describes the opportunity facing the digital infrastructure industry as unique for creating material community impact.

"We are now in a time where digital infrastructure and the market participants in that industry are uniquely positioned to create win-win-win scenarios in the communities that we develop," Spencer says. "We have all the tools we need to take advantage of this opportunity and really do something materially impactful."