THE race to power artificial intelligence is pushing US data centre development to break the speed limit of grid development.
THE race to power artificial intelligence is pushing US data centre development to break the speed limit of grid development — creating significant risk for projects, markets, and consumers, according to a new Wood Mackenzie report.
With grid transmission build-outs 5-10 years away and competitive pressure mounting, data centre operators are pursuing collocated generation and flexible interconnection models.
Wood Mackenzie’s latest Horizons report, Breaking The Speed Limit: Can US Data Centre Development Outpace Grid Development? warns that these projects face far greater technical, regulatory, and economic hurdles than the industry understands.
"The power sector is fixated on data centre flexibility, but that is not the endgame for grid operators or data centre operators,” said Ben Hertz-Shargel, Global Head of Grid Transformation and Large Loads, Wood Mackenzie. “Firm grid service is the goal, backed by new transmission superhighways. But there is a lack of awareness throughout the power sector about the technical and regulatory risk confronting collocation projects and the business risk of conditional interconnections.”
