Why now

The grid wasn't built for AI workloads.

AI needs gigawatts of firm power within a few years. The grid takes years to say yes, if it can say yes at all.

Conceptual multi-building AI campus at dusk — Design rendering. Conceptual and subject to change.

01 / Waiting in line

Years between request and power.

In Northern Virginia, Dominion estimates roughly four to seven years for a new large data center connection.^[1]

Generators face a queue too. Berkeley Lab found that the typical project built in 2024 spent 55 months between its interconnection request and commercial operation, compared with 36 months in 2015 and 22 months in 2008.^[2]

02 / Transmission

The lines are not keeping up.

Nearly 4,000 miles of high-voltage transmission were completed in 2013. In 2024, fewer than 900 miles of 345 kV-and-above lines were built; federal planning findings imply a need for roughly 5,000 miles each year.^[3]

03 / Grid strain

Ratepayers feel the pressure.

NERC projects summer peak demand rising by more than 224 GW over ten years, 69% above its previous forecast. Thirteen of 23 assessment areas face resource adequacy challenges, with AI and data center load driving most of the increase.^[4]

PJM capacity prices for 2025/2026 cleared at $269.92/MW-day, up from $28.92/MW-day.^[5]

The independent market monitor attributed $9.3 billion of that auction’s cost (+174%) to existing and forecast data center load.^[6]

Data Center Watch reported roughly $130 billion of projects blocked or delayed by local opposition in Q1 2026.^[7]

04 / Demand

AI demand is outpacing supply.

US data centers consumed 4.4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023. DOE projects 6.7% to 12% by 2028.^[8]

The IEA expects worldwide data center electricity use to more than double to about 945 TWh by 2030, slightly more than Japan uses today. Data centers account for nearly half of US electricity demand growth over that period.^[9]

05 / The bottleneck

Speed to power changes the equation.

Chips, capital and customers are ready. Firm, reliable power is the constraint DGEI was built to solve.

Waiting on the grid 4–7 years¹

Large-load request & queue position
Load studies & cost allocation
Transmission & substation upgrades
Energization, if capacity exists

The DGEI standard No interconnection queue

Site, fuel supply & permits
Factory-built power blocks and H building, in parallel
Commission capacity block by block

AI compute live, one 10 MW net IT block at a time →

Illustrative; not to scale. This comparison describes dedicated on-site generation. Grid-fed capacity, grid ties and export require utility service or agreements and approvals. Site schedules vary. First pipeline deliveries target Q1 2028, subject to development milestones; this is not a guarantee. ¹ Dominion estimate for Northern Virginia large-load connections; source 1.

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Sources

Source list supplied in the October 14, 2026 content brief. Dates and figures should be rechecked before publication.

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