Vertiv Unveils Outdoor Medium-Voltage UPS for AI Data Centers

Vertiv introduced the PowerNexus MV UPS on November 12, 2026, describing a 3.0 MVA outdoor system designed to protect AI data centers at their medium-voltage grid connection. The company expects shipments to begin in mid-2027 for colocation, neocloud and hyperscale operators.

The platform combines an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), fault ride-through and AI power smoothing. Placing those functions outdoors at the utility connection is intended to keep rapid AI load swings from reaching the grid while moving power-conversion equipment out of indoor rooms, freeing space for IT equipment.

The design also targets utility interconnection. Vertiv’s product documentation says utilities increasingly require data centers to demonstrate grid interactivity, long-duration energy storage and load-fluctuation management as conditions of approval. Integrating battery storage and grid-interactive controls with the UPS is intended to eliminate a separate procurement and installation step for a standalone battery system.

Outdoor Power Conversion and Battery Backup

Vertiv’s data sheet puts the main power train in a 40-foot outdoor skid containing a transformer, line reactor, converters and controls. Long-duration batteries sit in separate containers, switchgear is optional, and backup options run from one to four hours. The 34.5 kV system is rated for up to 98.5% peak efficiency and is designed to reduce reliance on diesel generators when paired with those batteries.

Grid power flows through the reactor and coupling transformer to redundant power-conversion systems that manage battery charging and load supply. During an outage, the converters switch to battery power for connected loads. They also provide reactive-power support and harmonic compensation while on-grid, adding power-quality functions beyond basic backup.

The line-interactive design is intended for new AI data centers and expansions, not low-voltage retrofits. An existing low-voltage campus can add it alongside legacy systems when building new halls or capacity, and Vertiv continues to support its low-voltage UPS portfolio. That positions PowerNexus as a campus-architecture choice rather than a drop-in replacement for an indoor UPS.

Demonstrations Before Commercial Shipments

A Power Systems Computer Aided Design (PSCAD) model is available for customers to simulate integration, power quality and dynamic interactions with the wider electrical grid before deployment. Vertiv has also hosted proof-of-concept demonstrations with QTS, SoftBank and Rosendin at its power research and customer center in Bologna, Italy.

Vertiv reports stable performance from 0–100% load, Class 1 voltage accuracy during rapid load changes, ride-through of a 100% voltage sag for 150 milliseconds, and ride-through of 25% overvoltage for five seconds. Class 1 concerns output-voltage quality under the IEC 62040-3 UPS standard when the system operates with long-duration batteries.

Ryan Kuithe, senior vice president of facilities operations at QTS, said the testing “validated the system’s ability to maintain stable power through dynamic load changes and voltage disturbances.” The announced results concern demonstrations rather than commercial operation at a customer site.

Planned Medium-Voltage Laboratory

Vertiv plans a dedicated Medium Voltage Laboratory at its Global Large Power R&D and Customer Experience Center in Bologna, scheduled to become operational in 2027. The facility is designed for research and development, full-voltage validation, customer demonstrations, service training and system-level testing. Its scope includes medium-voltage UPS, conversion from medium voltage to 800-volt direct current, and battery energy-storage technologies.

PowerNexus brings backup duration, power quality and grid-disturbance management into a single outdoor architecture while preserving indoor area for compute. The immediate evidence is simulation and customer demonstrations, however, rather than installed customer capacity. That makes the move from Bologna test results to shipped systems the central unresolved part of Vertiv’s medium-voltage push.