May 2026
The need for more data centers is high, but their construction is slowing. Power access constraints are a primary driver—the grid wasn’t designed to sustain the heavy draw from AI workloads, cloud expansion and the proliferation of connected devices.
The ripple effects go beyond coordinating utilities and land access. Power constraints have become a project controls challenge, impacting site selection, procurement timing, cost modeling and scheduling. And unlike most project variables, power availability isn’t a fixed input—it’s a moving target that can shift throughout the project lifecycle.
The Grid Reality Check
Moratoriums on data center builds in at least 12 states are being proposed or enacted as governments and utilities assess the impact on grid capacity, resource needs and budgets. Meanwhile, the interconnection queue is getting longer—from two years to four or more—as grid operators conduct pre-build studies on large-load connections and determine what infrastructure upgrades are needed. Hyperscale and AI-driven facilities are amplifying the pressure, requiring significant transmission reinforcement before new capacity can reach individual projects.
Together, these obstacles are extending the time between the intended groundbreaking and actual power availability, making power access a key planning variable for project controls teams. That means modeling possible outcomes and their implications on schedules and costs from the earliest planning stages—then tracking and adjusting as variables change.
How Site Selection Has Changed
For proposed data center projects, proximity to transmission networks has become the dominant site selection factor—outweighing traditional considerations like land cost and tax incentives. Sites near existing energy infrastructure offer a faster, more predictable path to power access.
That’s making brownfield sites increasingly attractive. Unused or underused industrial sites with existing power assets mean less infrastructure to build, lower cost and reduced schedule risk. Power agreements can be negotiated and cost baselines established well before construction begins. When power infrastructure already exists on a site, the variables that typically drive cost uncertainty—equipment lead times, permitting timelines, interconnection studies—are either already resolved or significantly compressed. That gives project controls teams a stable foundation for early-stage estimating.
Greenfield sites offer no such certainty. Regulatory and permitting obstacles, unpredictable sequencing and procurement commitments made before power scenarios are confirmed all introduce cost and schedule variables that are difficult to model accurately. For project controls teams, that uncertainty has a real price—and it starts with the power access question at site selection.
On-Site Generation and Hybrid Power Strategies
Two pressures are converging here. With demand for data centers so high, lead times for standard power infrastructure equipment like switchgear, transformers and backup generators have gotten significantly longer. That’s pushing project controls teams to lock in cost assumptions and procurement strategies earlier in the lifecycle, often before design is fully defined.
Then there’s grid access. What happens if it’s too far, can’t deliver on time or at the needed capacity? Grid-only becomes hybrid. Developers have to bring power to the project, adding more complexity to the scope. These on-site generation facilities—such as natural gas plants and solar plus battery storage systems—require separate permitting, construction timelines and regulatory requirements. Fuel supply logistics and emissions compliance add another layer, with direct implications for cost predictability and schedule.
Building predictability into these scenarios requires flexibility from the start. Project controls teams have to model, cost out and sequence each scenario early—before the generation strategy is locked in. Grid conditions can shift mid-construction, and that kind of replanning carries real cost and schedule consequences. The teams best positioned to handle it are the ones who modeled multiple power scenarios from the start, rather than committing to a single path too early.
The Project Controls Imperative
Power uncertainty with data center projects impacts every facet of a project controls function. Addressing it effectively means project controls has to be engaged earlier—and it means moving from single-point forecasting to scenario-based planning, where cost, schedule and risk are evaluated across multiple power pathways simultaneously.
Cost modeling has to account for multiple power scenarios simultaneously. A grid-only project has different costs than a hybrid or fully on-site generation project. The differences aren’t insignificant—they can represent major gaps in capital cost, schedule and risk exposure. Modeling the alternatives is what keeps budgets on track.
Contingency planning needs to adapt as well. The traditional approach of allocating a flat percentage to cover unknowns isn’t wrong; it just wasn’t designed for variables of this scale when the scope itself is still unclear. Those scenarios carry materially different project scopes and risk profiles. Power infrastructure contingencies should be scenario-specific and built into budgets at the estimate stage.
Bringing Power Planning into Project Controls
The heavy demand for data centers and the unpredictability of power access have made power planning a critical part of the project controls conversation, with direct implications for cost, schedule and risk. Key project decisions like site selection, procurement commitments and early design assumptions are increasingly being made before full power certainty is achieved. The earlier project controls is in that conversation, the less exposure there is to costly downstream changes.
Power infrastructure has to be a project controls input from day one.
That level of early-stage certainty requires the right tools, the right data and a cost management framework built for complexity—one that connects cost, schedule and procurement in real time as project assumptions evolve.
If you have a data center project on the horizon or want to introduce more certainty into your megaproject cost management, Contruent can help. The Contruent Enterprise lifecycle cost management solution is designed for complex projects, providing the visibility and real-time data you need to deliver on time and on budget.
Learn more or request a demo today.