Gridlock: How power availability is reshaping site selection
Key points:
- • Electric power now ranks first among the factors site consultants weigh, ahead of labor availability.
- • Equipment lead times and grid queues are pushing developers toward onsite generation and alternative supply chains.
- • Regulators in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and South Carolina are now deciding who pays for new demand.
November 2026 — Power availability now sits at the top of the site selection list, and Person County, North Carolina, shows what that means. The rural county has no interstate, yet Microsoft plans to put a data center on its 1,350-acre mega site. Across the Southeast and Texas, regions now compete to deliver electricity quickly while deciding who pays for the new demand.
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Phillip Allen, vice chairman of the Person County Economic Development Commission, traces the county’s appeal in an interview with Invest: Raleigh-Durham to what it already produces. “During peak periods, over 15% of the power generated in our state comes from Person County.”
Duke Energy is adding to that base with two natural gas facilities in the county, and Allen expects roughly 1,000 construction jobs from them. He weighs the missing highway against those assets and shrugs it off. “Being 20 minutes from an interstate is not a major issue.”
Site consultants have reached the same conclusion about power availability. A 2026 Site Selectors Guild survey found 79% of its 72 members put electric power among their top influences, ahead of labor availability and geopolitics at 50% each. More than half called inadequate supply a leading reason to eliminate a location.
Three years is too long
Part of the issue with power supply is the availability of the equipment itself. J.T. Ehrman, business development manager at Enerset Power Solutions in Houston, points to the wait for a single unit. “A power transformer can typically take three to five years to obtain.” Ehrman said in an interview with Invest: Houston.
Enerset works around that delay through ASTOR Energy, a Turkish manufacturer that can often secure lead times of 11 to 15 months, depending on transformer size. Ehrman sees little patience among buyers across industries. “Whether it is a data center or a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility, they cannot wait years for equipment. The demand is now, not in three years or five years from now.”
That urgency reaches well beyond data centers. In South Carolina, Emily Henson, senior vice president and president of Natural Gas Business at Duke Energy, hears it from industries weighing a move, as she explains in her interview with Invest: South Carolina. “They are looking for reliable infrastructure that is already in place so they do not have to wait to be connected, as well as reliable energy that can serve their operations.”
Cherokee County tested that standard this year. USA Rare Earth sought 70 megawatts within two years for a $1 billion facility, and the site could supply only one megawatt. Duke Energy ultimately committed to deliver within two years.
Scale compounds the problem. Urban Strandberg, vice president of sales and marketing for the Grid Integration business at Hitachi Energy, measures that change in orders of magnitude. “We are not only talking about 50 or 100 megawatts anymore, but gigawatt-scale AI data centers.” Hitachi Energy responded with a $10 million Power Electronics Center of Competence in Cary, which brings testing once done in Sweden to the Research Triangle.
Building around the grid
Some developers have stopped waiting for the grid altogether. Strandberg sees that shift in the projects now coming to market. “Given the current demand, we are also seeing more behind-the-meter applications. Developers and customers are building these energy hubs quickly and then trying to attract hyperscalers as customers.”
Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy found the same appetite in an April survey. Some 61% of developers said they would deploy onsite power if utilities could not meet their timelines.
Trident Energy Group in Houston began with purpose-built, behind-the-meter power for industrial customers. In an interview with Invest: Houston, CEO Amy Henry watched that market widen quickly. “Then the wave of data centers came, and we began getting interest from off-takers and data centers, so we are now focused on delivering power to both industrial facilities and data centers.”
Natural gas supplies much of that buildout. Dale Calhoun, executive director of the Florida Natural Gas Association, told Invest: Jacksonville that gas generates about 75% of Florida’s electricity, and he points to its speed. “Natural gas turbines provide quick, ready, dispatchable power.”
Onsite generation still does not guarantee a clear path, and Texas shows why.
The bill reaches regulators
Speed answers only half of the question. Frank Almaraz, interim president and CEO of CPS Energy, frames the other half for San Antonio’s municipally owned utility. “We are also addressing major policy questions, including how to accommodate large loads and data centers coming to Texas without disadvantageing existing customers,” he explained in an interview with Invest: Houston.
Texas has moved furthest. In September, the Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted rules that require loads of 75 MW or more to pay a $100,000 study fee and post $50,000 per MW in financial security before interconnection studies.
Days later, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s environmental regulator to halt data center permits until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) audits the data centers in its 474 GW queue. Law firm White & Case says the freeze also blocks off-grid projects. Abbott’s conditions require projects to cover all electrical infrastructure costs and lower residential bills.
Other states are writing their answers through utility filings. In North Carolina, Duke Energy reached a settlement with the state’s Public Staff, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, and others. New customers of 50 MW or more would pay upfront for dedicated facilities and post deposits for shared upgrades.
In Florida, Florida Power & Light told regulators its rates already comply with a new data center law. Applicants there fund 100% of new generation and sign 20-year contracts. South Carolina’s Public Service Commission is taking comments on new loads of 50 MW or greater.
Going forward, power availability will continue to decide where the next projects go, and governmental rulings will decide what they pay. Henry sees no way to hold prices without a change in approach. “If we do not take new approaches, the price is going to continue going up.”
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