Watt it Takes: Cloverleaf Infrastructure Co-Founder and CCO Brian Janous

Sep 25, 2025

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1:10

Brian Janous

Cloverleaf Infrastructure

Brian Janous is the Co-Founder and CCO of Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a company developing “powered land” by bringing together utilities, grid operators, and data centers so new capacity can come online faster and with more certainty.

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Emily spoke to Brian about his path, from a quintessential 80s childhood in Mississippi and Texas to more than a decade at Microsoft leading a 100-person energy strategy team, where he began envisioning new ways to connect power with the world’s expanding computing needs. That path led him to co-found Cloverleaf Infrastructure, which in less than two years has raised $300 million, closed its first major deal — Project Red Granite, a 1.3 GW development representing $8 billion in investment and 2 million square feet — and is now in the process of selling a second large project expected to close this year.

Brian is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Cloverleaf aims to solve the critical problem of expanding grid capacity to support the largest electric customer loads to spur economic growth and decarbonization. Previously, Brian served as VP of Energy at Microsoft, supporting the development and execution of Microsoft’s global cloud and AI energy strategy. This included oversight of energy policy, procurement, renewable energy, distributed generation, and overall environmental impact. Prior to Microsoft, Brian worked as a consultant at Brubaker & Associates, assisting Fortune 500 companies with energy procurement, policy, and sustainability matters.

Brian holds board positions with LineVision, a leader in dynamic line rating technology, VEIR, a pioneer in superconducting transmission technology, Protect Our Winters, and the Institute for Energy Studies at Western Washington University. Brian has also previously served on the board of the American Wind Energy Association (now the American Clean Power Association). Brian holds an MBA from Webster University, a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Missouri.

"The Watt Bit Spread highlights that there’s a massive spread between the cost of the input—the watt—and the value created in the conversion to a bit. Electricity prices are pretty inelastic, and the value of those bits is so high that the spread is persistent. That creates a lot of business opportunity for people that can take watts and turn them into bits.”