Data from DC Hub shows that as of November 9th, the grid connection wait times vary significantly across different data center markets in the United States. Their Data Center Power Index (DCPI) estimates that new projects in Albuquerque, New Mexico, require approximately 11 months to connect to the grid; Las Vegas and Reno, approximately 15 months; Chicago, approximately 36 months; while Northern Virginia reaches approximately 72 months, 6.5 times longer than Albuquerque. The corresponding index scores are 53.1 (cautious) and 20.0 (avoid), respectively. Northern Virginia is one of the world's major data center clusters, but grid connection and transmission capacity limitations are increasing the difficulty of expansion there. CREFC, citing industry research, points out that the grid connection cycle for data centers larger than 100MW in Northern Virginia could exceed 7 years. Power delivery time is becoming a significant constraint on AI data center site selection, potentially driving some new projects to second-tier markets with relatively abundant power supply.
