An estimate based on thousands of planned U.S. data-center facilities suggests about 35% of announced capacity may be built, highlighting the distance between developers’ plans and projects likely to reach construction.
The estimate concerns capacity, not the number of facilities. Some major proposals still need an electricity source, permits or customers, and power shortages are delaying projects. The pipeline includes projects facing infrastructure constraints as well as proposals that may not advance.
In Texas, requests to connect data centers to the grid exceed five times the state’s existing electricity supply. That total includes applications for multiple candidate sites: developers may seek connections at different locations while assessing where a project can proceed. As a result, the volume of requests is not a direct count of projects expected to be built.
A separate Goldman Sachs estimate put the share of capacity planned for the next few years that might be ready on schedule at about half, according to EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of data-center power constraints. The two estimates address different measures: one concerns how much announced U.S. capacity may be built, while the other concerns the near-term timing of planned capacity.
