Data centers hit power and permitting limits
Reports from multiple states say hyperscale data‑centre projects are running into grid capacity, high power costs and local opposition, with planners warning that large‑load customers complicate electric planning. Several approvals have proceeded despite hundreds of opposition letters, illustrating both demand and community pushback around large data‑centre builds. (ahwatukee.com) (ktar.com)
Data centers are colliding with the limits of local power grids and local patience as utilities and counties try to keep up. (ktar.com) (eia.gov) In metro Phoenix, Maricopa County’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously on April 9 to advance Project Baccara, a 160-acre campus near Luke Air Force Base with a gas plant on site, despite 225 opposition letters. Developer Takanock says it is investing $36 billion across four sites in three states. (ktar.com) Arizona has also produced rejections. Chandler City Council voted down a proposed artificial intelligence data center on December 11, 2025 after hours of public comment, in a fight that centered on power use, water and neighborhood impacts. (ktar.com) (politico.com) The power problem is simple: a hyperscale data center is a warehouse full of servers that runs day and night, so it behaves like a huge new factory on the grid. The Energy Information Administration said in March that United States electricity load is forecast to rise 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.5 percent in 2027, with the fastest growth in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and PJM regions. (eia.gov) Federal regulators are treating those projects as a grid-planning issue, not just a zoning fight. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said its review of PJM was aimed at making sure large-load customers such as artificial intelligence data centers connect under rules that protect reliability and keep costs fair to consumers. (ferc.gov) States are now rewriting electric rates around that demand. Utility Dive reported on March 31 that 77 large-load tariffs were pending or in place across 36 states, and regulators approved 29 of them in 2025 alone as they tried to keep data-center costs from spilling onto other customers’ bills. (utilitydive.com) Virginia, the country’s biggest data-center market, spent its 2026 legislative session arguing over who should pay for all that new power infrastructure. Virginia Mercury reported that a bill headed to Governor Glenn Youngkin would let the State Corporation Commission decide whether to shift more electricity costs onto data centers and other large industrial users. (virginiamercury.com) Local governments in Virginia have also started demanding proof that utilities can actually serve new campuses. York County now requires applications to include letters from energy and water providers stating whether full-capacity service is available, plus sound studies, setbacks and buffer rules. (virginiamercury.com) Georgia is seeing the same pattern. Inside Climate News reported on April 13 that a proposed 900-acre “Project Ruby” campus in Muscogee County has become a local flashpoint, while The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported fights over Georgia Power’s plans to add supply for data-center growth near Newnan. (insideclimatenews.org) (ajc.com) Opposition is no longer isolated to one county or one state. Data Center Watch said in a 2025 report that $64 billion in United States data-center projects had been blocked or delayed by local resistance, and Virginia Mercury reported that community groups in Virginia had turned that pushback into an organized statewide campaign. (datacenterwatch.org) (virginiamercury.com) The next test in Arizona is May 6, when Project Baccara goes to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. By then, county officials, utilities and neighbors will be arguing over the same question surfacing across the country: who gets the power, who pays for it and who has to live next to it. (projectbaccara.com) (maricopa.gov)
