Longer wait times to hook up data centers to the electrical grid are increasingly forcing property developers to get creative in finding ways to speed up the process to meet soaring demand, according to a new JLL report.
Two options are leading contenders to be the preferred solutions: battery storage and power generators located near a data center that bypass the nationwide transmission system.
About 57% of data center projects worldwide last year experienced a delay of at least three months, according to real estate services company JLL's 2026 Global Data Center Outlook report issued Tuesday. Many of those delays were because of a lack of power supply for the new data centers.
In the largest U.S. data center markets, the average wait time to connect to the electric grid is at least four years, JLL said. In Northern Virginia, the world's biggest data center market, the average grid connection time for a data center with a capacity of at least 50 megawatts is about seven years. The average wait time in Atlanta and Chicago is about five years.
The rise of artificial intelligence is the primary culprit behind the lengthening delays in connecting new data centers to electric power, as AI requires vastly more power than traditional computing applications. Property developers and technology companies are spending enormous sums to build new facilities. JLL estimates that about $1.2 trillion worth of real estate assets will "come online" worldwide by 2030 because of new data centers.
Utilities are racing to develop new sources of electric power using natural gas, nuclear and renewables like solar and wind. But some utility companies have said they are currently unable to meet demand from data centers on a timely basis.
The need for speed
That's why data center developers who can identify and secure power sources the fastest are most likely to succeed, Andy Cvengros, executive managing director and co-lead of JLL's U.S. data center market, said in a news release.
"Speed to power in 2027 for new developments has become the primary criteria driving site selection as traditional location and cost factors take a back seat to energy availability," Cvengros said.
Battery storage is likely to grow in popularity among data center developers because installation and operational costs are decreasing, and batteries can utilize renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels, according to JLL. Companies involved in battery storage for data centers include electric vehicle maker Tesla and Eos Energy Enterprises, which makes batteries that use zinc instead of lithium. Though lithium is more established, zinc has emerged as a strong alternative due to its abundance, lower price and relative safety, as it's nonflammable.
"We are in the midst of an energy super-cycle as the need for reliable, abundant energy both in the United States and globally continues to accelerate," Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of Eos, said in a Nov. 5 news release.
Powerful batteries are allowing operator Aligned Data Centers to expand its data center campus near Portland, Oregon, sooner than would otherwise be possible, according to the company. Aligned is installing a battery energy storage system manufactured by Calibrant Energy at the campus in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland.
"This project flips the script on how data centers access power," Calibrant CEO Phil Martin said in a news release. "Rather than the false choice between waiting years for system upgrades or having to go off grid entirely, we're working with leading data center providers [to] accelerate grid interconnection."
Some developers are looking to establish power plants next to data centers to speed up the process. Because they aren't connected to the national electric grid, data center developers can connect faster to a source of power, JLL said.
On-site power
On-site power plants, also known as behind-the-meter systems, could provide between a quarter and a third of the incremental electricity demand from data centers through 2030, according to a November report by investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Joule Capital Partners started construction on a data center in Holden, Utah, that will produce its own power on-site, the Utah Foundation reported. Meanwhile, the Stargate data center partnership between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank is expected to generate much of its own power for its $500 billion worth of data centers in Abilene, Texas, and other locations.
Google is developing a data center campus near Haskell, Texas, with an on-site battery-storage system developed by Intersect. Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced just before Christmas that it agreed to acquire Intersect for $4.75 billion.
Power plants located on a data center campus can use virtually any source, including nuclear, renewables and new technologies like fuel cells, according to industry groups.
Bloom Energy recently agreed to supply its fuel cells to Brookfield Asset Management for the development of $5 billion worth of data center infrastructure. Small modular reactors that generate nuclear power are also expected to play a major role.