Data center developers have stopped waiting for utilities to call them back. Now, they’re building their own “Frankenstein” grids instead. (Cleanview)
With interconnection wait times hitting seven years, a stunning 56 GW of data center capacity (~30% of the US total) is now being built behind the meter. 90% of these projects surfaced just last year.
To bypass turbine backlogs, developers are deploying a mix of mobile gas generators on semi-trucks, repurposed cruise ship engines, and aeroderivative jet turbines. Despite "green" PR, the equipment orders reveal that 75% of this new capacity is fossil-fueled.
Why use inefficient, expensive hardware? Because an AI data center can generate $10-12B per GW. In that economic reality, fuel efficiency is a rounding error. Speed to market is the only metric that matters.
