Building the shell of a data center takes 18–24 months in most U.S. markets, but “time to power” can take much longer. While it varies by state, the national average wait time is four years, according to the 2026 JLL Global Data Center Outlook. As the iMasons State of the Digital Infrastructure Industry 2026 Annual Report puts it, power delivery is the bottleneck, not construction.

“Time to power” is the amount of time from a developer’s initial interconnection request to the date a utility can deliver contracted megawatts to a project site. That covers utility load studies, transmission upgrade planning, equipment procurement by the utility, physical line and substation construction and regulatory approvals.

The timeline rose from 12–18 months in 2022 to 4 years or more because the scale of these projects has increased dramatically, thanks to A.I. data centers demanding multiple gigawatts and to an increase in requests that has overwhelmed grid operators.

According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at the end of 2025, more than 2,060 GW of generation and storage capacity were actively seeking grid connection. That’s more than twice the country’s entire installed generating capacity.

Adding to the problem are transformer lead times; large power transformers take two to four years from most manufacturers. Generator procurement has also seen significant lead times.

Some cities experiencing delays include:

• Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market, added more than 1 GW of new capacity in 2025 alone, according to CBRE, and consumes approximately 25% of the state’s total electricity supply, according to Mordor Intelligence analysis of Dominion Energy resource planning filings. Average wait time for a 100-MW connection is seven years.
• Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the most active data center markets in the country, where they account for approximately 73% of the queue. ERCOT’s large-load interconnection queue was approximately 410 GW in April 2026, about five times the grid’s current total generating capacity.
• Phoenix ranks second in North America for proposed data center development. Arizona’s Energy Promise Task Force released findings in April 2026 warning that proposed data center loads could nearly triple total demand.

Project management is critical. During preconstruction, a general contractor should confirm a signed utility power commitment and delivery date. Proceeding to design development without a utility agreement could result in a facility that cannot be energized on schedule.

Owners may request accelerated construction schedules even before a power commitment date is firm. Contractors should weigh the risk of holding a completed building without a power agreement. Contracts that tie substantial completion to building readiness instead of to energized and operational status create risk and potential added costs for both owners and contractors. 

Electrical packages including medium-voltage switchgear, transformers and generator systems must be procured in coordination with both construction schedules and power delivery.