Four years and counting: grid connection waits in primary markets

For most of the past decade, data center developers chose land first and treated utility service as a solvable downstream step. That sequence has inverted. In primary North American markets, the average wait for a grid connection now stretches beyond four years — longer than the typical development cycle for a hyperscale campus.

4+ yrs

average wait for a grid connection in primary data center markets

The queue is not a single line. Utilities process large-load requests through study phases — feasibility, system impact, facilities design — each with its own timeline and cost. A site that looks close to a substation on a map may require miles of new feeder, switchgear with 100-week lead times, or transmission upgrades that push energization dates past 2030.

For landowners, this means proximity to infrastructure is necessary but not sufficient. The question is not 'is there a substation nearby?' but 'what has the utility said in writing about serving this load, on what timeline, and at what cost?' Informal snapshots are a starting point. Binding design is where assertions become commitments.

For developers and operators, grid wait times explain why powered land commands premiums. A parcel with an advanced queue position or executed reservation is not just land — it is years of time bought back from the utility process. That time has a price, and in tight markets the price is rising.

Anywhere DC's readiness framework exists because this gap — between what brokers claim and what utilities confirm — is where deals fail. Site Readiness Levels document where a parcel actually sits in that process, with correspondence to support each level.