Why are data centers building their own power plants
Why are data centers building their own power plants. Connecting a new power plant to the shared electric grid, a step called interconnection, is taking so long that companies with huge electricity needs are choosing to skip it. PJM, the grid operator that manages shared power lines for 67 million people across 13 states and Washington DC, including Northern Virginia, the largest data center market in the country, saw its own new projects average 8 years in that connection queue in 2025, up from under 2 years in 2008, according to the research group Contrary Research, within a 5 to 10 year range the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman gives for the ordinary interconnection process nationally. Rather than wait, developers are building or buying behind the meter power, electricity made by a plant that connects straight to a data center over a private line instead of through the shared grid.
The 2008 figure was under 2 years. The bar is plotted at 2 to show the scale, and the true 2008 number was lower still.
Show the numbers
| PJM queue, 2008 | 2 |
| PJM queue, 2025 | 8 |
PJM is shifting the cost of new power plants onto data centers
PJM own board announcement states that 15 gigawatts of generating capacity have retired from its grid since 2022, while it forecasts 70 gigawatts of new large load growth by 2038, a large load defined as any site drawing at least 50 megawatts, a measure of how much power a site can pull from the grid at once, of cumulative peak demand within a 1 mile radius. Its most recent capacity auction showed a shortfall of 6,831 megawatts for the 2028 to 2029 delivery year. To manage that gap, the PJM board decided that any large load without its own power supply, or a signed contract for one, by June 1, 2027, will be cut off first during a grid emergency, ahead of every other customer, while a large load with its own generation faces fewer restrictions. PJM also capped backstop power pay at 555 dollars per megawatt day and said new large loads should bear the costs their connection causes, not other customers.
These are 3 separate figures PJM reported for its own grid, not parts of 1 calculation.
Show the numbers
| New large load growth forecast by 2038 | 70 |
| Generating capacity retired since 2022 | 15 |
| Capacity shortfall for the 2028 to 2029 delivery year | 6.8 |
Energy companies are lining up to build the power themselves
GE Vernova and Chevron plan to deliver 4 gigawatts of power by 2027 using 7 gas turbine units built by GE Vernova, paired with natural gas that Chevron supplies, enough electricity for roughly 3.5 million United States homes, with first deliveries scheduled for 2026. Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said,
The grid is already under strain, and if we don't take proactive steps, we're going to see higher costs and reliability challenges across industries.
Mike Wirth, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chevron, speaking on the partnership with GE Vernova. Source 4.
A natural gas plant like this one can be built in 1 to 3 years, faster than most other new generation, according to the Congressional Research Service, which is part of why natural gas makes up about 75% of the behind the meter capacity now planned, roughly 23 of 31 gigawatts, according to Contrary Research.
Most of the new capacity has not been built yet
Behind the meter power now accounts for 30% of planned United States data center capacity, according to Contrary Research, but only 2 gigawatts, 2.2% of the total amount announced, was actually running as of mid 2026, according to a Cleanview analysis cited by the Congressional Research Service. A December 2025 order concerning PJM lets large loads use a bring your own generation strategy to connect power behind the meter, reducing the need to add new load to the shared grid, according to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Virginia alone accounts for more than 20% of the electricity every data center in the country uses, the only state above that mark, according to the Congressional Research Service.