Data Centers
Data Center Power
PJM Capacity Auction Clearing Prices
What scarcity costs, in the market's own words. The largest US grid's capacity price rose from $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25 to the FERC cap at $269.92, $329.17, and $333.44 in the next three auctions. Generators collect this; large loads ultimately pay it.
US Interconnection Queues by Resource
About 2,290 GW of generation and storage was actively queued at year-end 2024, down 12 percent as withdrawals outran new requests. Natural gas is the exception: active gas in the queue rose 72 percent to 136 GW, the data-center-relevant supply story.
Hyperscaler Firm-Power Deals
Who locked up firm power, and how: restarted reactors, 20-year PPAs, SMR development deals, and one fusion moonshot. Each row is a multi-decade demand commitment from a tenant with a trillion-dollar balance sheet.
| Buyer | Seller | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Constellation (CEG) | 835 MW |
| Amazon | Talen Energy (TLN) | Up to 1,920 MW |
| Meta | Constellation (CEG) | 1,121 MW |
| NextEra (NEE) | ~615 MW | |
| Kairos Power (private) | Up to 500 MW across multiple units | |
| Amazon | X-energy (private) with Energy Northwest | ~320 MW initial, expandable |
| Microsoft | Helion (private) | 50 MW |
Turbines, Gensets, and On-Site Power
The machines that make and back up the megawatts, and the companies that build them. Gas turbine slots are effectively sold out into the late 2020s, which makes delivery position a competitive moat.
| Supplier | Data center angle |
|---|---|
| GE Vernova (GEV) | The scarcest machines in the buildout: combined gas equipment backlog and slot reservations reached 116 GW at Q2 2026, with a year-end 2026 guide of at least 125 GW. Slot-reservation fees are now standard. Electrification data-center orders exceeded $5B year-to-date 2026. |
| Caterpillar (CAT) | Backup generation for nearly every large data center plus growing prime-power packages. Power generation is the fastest-growing part of its energy segment. Not rostered (diversified). |
| Cummins (CMI) | Record power systems results driven by data center standby demand; capacity expansions announced. Not rostered (diversified). |
| Bloom Energy (BE) | Fuel cells as bridge power where the grid cannot deliver in time, including a 1 GW AEP framework converted in January 2026. Rostered on Hydrogen & Fuel Cells (stationary SOFC is the business; data centers are the customer). |
| Generac (GNRC) | Entering the data center backup market from a residential and commercial base. Not rostered (data centers still a small share). |
| Siemens Energy (ENR.DE) | The other western turbine and grid major, with similar sold-out dynamics. Not rostered (covered adequately by GEV for this sector's lens; listed in Frankfurt). |
Global Data Center Electricity: 2030 Cases
The IEA's 2024 estimate is about 415 TWh. Its four 2030 cases span 670 TWh (Headwinds) to more than 1,260 TWh (Lift-Off), with a Base Case of about 945 TWh. The spread is the finding: AI uptake, efficiency, and energy-sector bottlenecks all move the total by hundreds of terawatt-hours.
Data Center Electricity by Region
The United States is nearly 45 percent of the 2024 total and accounts for about 240 TWh of the Base Case increase to 2030. China, Europe, and Japan add the rest. These are modelled regional totals, not metered loads.
US Five-Year Peak Demand Forecast Revisions
The same five-year-ahead question, answered four times from FERC Form 714: 24 GW in 2022, 38 GW in 2023, 64 GW in 2024, and 166 GW in 2025. Of the latest 166 GW, Grid Strategies attributes roughly 90 GW to data centers, with a caveat that compiled totals likely overstate unique demand.
Utility-Disclosed Data Center Load Pipelines
Dominion, AEP, Entergy, and WEC have each published a large-load figure. The rows are not comparable: contracting stages, letters of agreement, and named campuses are different objects. Read each definition.
| Utility | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dominion Energy (D) | Data-center capacity in various stages of contracting as of Q2 2026, including about 12 GW under electric service agreements. Added more than 5 GW of contracts since year-end 2025. |
| American Electric Power (AEP) | Incremental contracted large load through 2030 as of the May 2026 investor handout, up from 56 GW on the Q4 2025 call and 28 GW the quarter before that. Mix of letters of agreement and electric service agreements. The Q4 2025 mix was about 36 GW at AEP Texas, 15 GW in PJM, and 5 GW in SPP; the May update moved Texas to about 41 GW. |
| Entergy (ETR) | Meta's Richland Parish, Louisiana Hyperion campus is a named multi-gigawatt load. This is a project anchor, not an Entergy-wide pipeline total. |
| WEC Energy Group (WEC) | Q4 2025 earnings call: 2.6 GW of forecast demand through 2030 in the I-94 corridor (Microsoft Fairwater / Mount Pleasant, including 500 MW added after Microsoft's January 2026 expansion) and 1.3 GW north of Milwaukee (Vantage Port Washington), 3.9 GW combined in the five-year plan. Project-specific rather than a system-wide queue total. |
ERCOT Peak Demand vs the Large-Load Queue
Texas summer peaks have climbed from about 75 GW in 2019 to 91 GW in 2026. The large-load interconnection queue ERCOT reported in mid-2026 was 438 GW, nearly 90 percent data centers. SB 6 and Batch Zero exist because that queue is an upper bound on ambition, not a forecast.
How Data Centers Pay for Grid Upgrades
How states and grid operators are shifting stranded-asset risk onto data-center customers: minimum-take bills, long terms, collateral, and exit fees. Ohio's AEP tariff became the template; Texas is deflating a 438 GW queue with statute and process.
| Jurisdiction | Terms |
|---|---|
| Ohio | Dedicated data-center tariff class with minimum demand charges, multi-year terms, collateral, and exit fees so contracted capacity is billed whether used or not. |
| Texas | SB 6 added curtailment obligations, duplicate-request disclosure, and cost responsibility. Batch Zero groups loads of 75 MW and above into a single study, with financial security of $50,000 per MW. |
| Virginia | Dominion's 2026 commentary describes a large-load framework meant to make data-center customers pay for the investments that serve them, with longer contract terms, exit fees, and enhanced collateral on new electric service agreements. |
| Georgia | Large-load rules with minimum billing terms and creditworthiness standards for loads above 100 MW, plus IRP treatment of new large loads. |
| Indiana | Settlements requiring roughly 80 percent minimum take, 10 to 20 year terms, and collateral from large-load customers. |
| PJM (federal) | Addresses how behind-the-meter and co-located large loads pay for grid services they use when they sit next to a generator. |
GE Vernova Gas Equipment Under Contract
Combined turbine backlog and slot reservations grew from 55 GW in mid-2025 to 116 GW at the end of Q2 2026. Management's year-end 2026 guide is at least 125 GW. Slot position is now a scarce input to the data-center buildout.
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