**The Growing Challenges of Data Centre Expansion: Power, Planning, and Grid Constraints**
The rapid global push to expand data centre capacity to support artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing workloads is hitting significant roadblocks. Large-scale data centre projects are increasingly facing power shortages, grid connection delays, planning disputes, land-use conflicts, and escalating construction costs, threatening to slow down the digital infrastructure needed for AI proliferation.
A report by *The Guardian*, referencing data from the Uptime Institute, reveals that between 2021 and 2024, 250 data centre projects requiring over 100 megawatts (MW) of power each were announced worldwide. Uptime estimates that approximately half of these projects are likely to be delayed or cancelled altogether.
**Projects Face Delays Due to Land, Power, and Community Challenges**
One prominent example is the Prince William Digital Gateway project in Virginia, a planned 2,000-acre site that has been stalled due to multiple challenges, including its proximity to a Civil War battlefield. Local opposition argued that the scale of the data centres and associated electrical infrastructure would compromise the historic character of the site. A local court ruling has since halted the project, and a key backer has withdrawn.
Uptime has listed this project among those that have been cancelled. Other major cancellations include Project Range in Arizona and the Cyberjaya campus in Malaysia.
Beyond cancellations, many projects face lengthy delays. In California, some completed data centres are sitting idle because they are waiting for power connections. In Santa Clara, two data centres with a combined planned load of nearly 100MW could remain unused for years as grid upgrades worth around $450 million are not expected to be completed until 2028.
In Amsterdam, an Australian data centre developer even sued the Dutch grid operator after its connection request was rejected, highlighting how grid access has become a major bottleneck.
**Power Demand Is Skyrocketing—Grids Are Already Strained**
According to the International Energy Agency, global electricity consumption from data centres is expected to more than double by 2030, reaching around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh)—just under 3% of global electricity use for that year. Uptime warns that grid infrastructure in many regions, particularly North America, is already under strain and cannot support the surge in demand from new data centres.
Projects announced in 2024 alone could consume 1.3% of projected global electricity use in 2025 if they operate at just 25% of planned capacity—nearly doubling current data centre demand. About 80% of this new demand is linked to U.S. projects.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects electricity consumption to hit record levels by 2026 and 2027, with AI data centres, cryptocurrency mining, and electrification cited as key drivers. Capacity charges in the PJM Interconnection region have reportedly risen by more than 1,000% between 2024 and 2026, with manufacturers pointing to data centre growth as a contributing factor.
**Industry Response and Emerging Solutions**
Google has stated that its cloud business is “compute-constrained,” as demand for AI services continues to outpace available capacity. Jay Dietrich, a research director at Uptime, noted that multiple factors are slowing project development, including a lack of data centre experience among some developers, projects without committed tenants, and constraints related to energy, water, supply chains, and skilled labour.
The industry is also shifting toward larger “mega-gigawatt” campuses. Last year, six projects were announced, each seeking at least 5GW of power—five in the U.S. and one in the United Arab Emirates. Ireland’s peak demand is around 6GW, while the seven largest planned data centres globally propose a combined 45GW of onsite power, primarily relying on gas.
To manage energy demands, the industry is increasingly looking at battery storage and onsite power generation. However, these solutions still require grid coordination, fuel supply, emissions approvals, and permits. JLL expects about 1,200 data centres to be built globally by 2030, with AI driving most of the demand.
While lease signings and groundbreakings in the first half of 2026 slightly exceeded estimates, the combination of power shortages, grid delays, land-use conflicts, and supply chain limitations continues to pose serious risks to the timely expansion of data centre infrastructure.
***
**Original Article:**
Source: *The Guardian* report cited by Uptime Institute data, as referenced in Cloud Computing News article “Data centre projects face power shortages and grid delays,” December 2025.
Available at: https://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image-2.png
