Share of US electricity used by data centers in 2023, and the high-end projection for 2028 (low case: 6.7%).
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: 2024 Report on U.S. Data Center Energy UseData Center Development Watch
Free weekly briefing · US + Canada
The AI economy is being built one permit, one substation and one county vote at a time.I track all three.
Data Center Development Watch is my weekly read on where North America is actually building: siting, power, permits, incentives, and the community fights that decide what gets built. Every claim links to the filing, order or report behind it. One national edition, plus the regional tracks you care about.
By Michael Ryan Betz · Founder & CEO, The Proper Group · Author of In The Making
The numbers I watch
Demand is not the question anymore. Power, permission and patience are.
2026 capital spending forecast by Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft combined, earmarked largely for data centers and the gear inside them.
Bloomberg via Data Center Knowledge: Big Tech 2026 capital spendingLarge-load requests in ERCOT's queue in mid-2026, nearly 89% tied to data centers.
ERCOT large-load queue (Data Center Frontier)Under construction in Atlanta, which passed Northern Virginia as North America's top construction market for the first time.
CBRE H1 2026: Atlanta construction marketIndiana counties with data center moratoriums, plus three that have banned projects outright.
Indiana county restrictions (The Bond Buyer)Data center load that has asked to connect to Alberta's grid since the province set a C$100B investment goal.
Alberta market overview (Baxtel)Why I write this
This is not a real estate story. It is a leadership story.
Most coverage treats data centers as a land deal or a tech headline. From where I sit, it is something else: the largest test of operating leadership in a generation, playing out in county meeting rooms, utility commissions and interconnection queues.
Three things now decide whether a project is real. Power: who can deliver megawatts, when, and who pays for the wires. Permission: zoning, tariffs, incentives and the community's consent. Patience: the years between an announcement and an energized building, where capital, contractors and politics all move.
Every week I read the filings, orders and reports so you do not have to, and I tell you what changed, what it means, and the next date to watch.
Michael Ryan BetzFrom the briefing
Recent reads
Issue 1 · National edition
The world's largest data center market just closed for a year
Loudoun freezes, Google brings its own gigawatt, Taylor's playbook, Wisconsin's statewide review, and California shuts the door.
Power & Rates
The new gatekeeper is the tariff
The fastest-moving filter on data center growth is not zoning. It is the large-load tariff.
The fastest-moving filter on data center growth is not zoning. It is the large-load tariff. In Ohio, regulators approved AEP Ohio's rule requiring new data centers above 25 MW to pay for at least 85% of their subscribed capacity for up to 12 years, whether they use it or not PUCO via POWER Magazine. In Oregon, the POWER Act created a separate rate class, and regulators approved a 29.7% increase for Portland General Electric's large-load customers while residential rates dipped OPB. In Québec, Hydro-Québec has proposed a dedicated rate of roughly 13 cents per kWh for data centers above 5 MW, about double the current large-power rate BLG.
What it means: tariffs separate committed projects from speculative ones. If your state does not have one yet, expect a filing. If you are a developer, model the minimum-bill exposure before you announce.
Pipelines
A queue is not demand
Headline megawatts are options, not buildings. The queue tells only part of the story.
ERCOT's large-load queue went from 63 GW at the end of 2024 to about 226 GW by November 2025 Latitude Media, then past 438 GW by mid-2026 Data Center Frontier. Texas has never used more than about 86 GW at once. Georgia shows the other side: in one quarter, 14.3 GW of projects left Georgia Power's large-load pipeline even as new ones arrived Utility Dive.
What it means: headline megawatts are options, not buildings. That is why every major project in this briefing gets a Reality Score: how much of it is power secured, land controlled, permits filed and a named end user.
Community & Policy
The moratorium map is the new site-selection map
Community consent is now a line item. The projects that win show up early with answers.
Local opposition blocked or delayed at least 75 US projects worth about $130 billion in Q1 2026, roughly matching all of 2025 in one quarter Data Center Watch. Another 45 projects worth about $68 billion followed in Q2 Tom's Hardware. In Indiana, 25 of 92 counties now have moratoriums The Bond Buyer. Even Loudoun County, Virginia, the world's largest market, is weighing a pause of up to a year on new data center and substation applications Loudoun County.
What it means: community consent is now a line item. The projects that win show up early with water, noise, tax and grid answers, not after the vote.
Coverage tracks
One national edition. Twelve regional tracks.
Everyone gets the National edition. Add the regions where you build, invest, govern or sell, and you'll get that region's developments, filings and dates in your briefing.
National Trends
US + CanadaSignal: Data centers used 4.4% of US electricity in 2023 and could use up to 12% by 2028.
Northeast
NY, New EnglandWatching: Tight grids and high power prices make the Northeast a test of on-site generation and grid-friendly design.
Mid-Atlantic
VA, MD, PA, NJ, DE, DCSignal: Northern Virginia vacancy sits at 0.2% while Loudoun weighs a pause, and Pennsylvania's Homer City site plans up to 4.5 GW of gas generation for a campus.
Southeast
GA, NC, SC, FL, TN, ALSignal: Georgia regulators approved nearly 9,885 MW of new generation, largely for data centers, and Atlanta now leads North American construction.
Midwest
OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MN, KYSignal: Ohio set the template for large-load tariffs, while a quarter of Indiana's counties have paused projects.
Plains
IA, NE, KS, MO, DakotasSignal: FERC approved SPP's fast-track process to study large loads paired with new generation in about 90 days.
South Central
TX, OK, LA, AR, MSSignal: ERCOT is tracking 438 GW of large-load requests, and Meta is expanding its Louisiana Hyperion campus to 5 GW and more than $50B.
Southwest
AZ, NM, NVSignal: Arizona paused the incentives that fueled its boom for three years as water and power concerns grew.
Mountain West
CO, UT, WY, ID, MTSignal: Laramie County approved Project Jade near Cheyenne: 1.8 GW at the start, designed to scale toward 10 GW.
West Coast
CASignal: Silicon Valley vacancy keeps falling as demand outruns supply in one of the hardest places in America to build.
Pacific Northwest
OR, WASignal: Oregon's POWER Act moved data centers into their own rate class: +29.7% for large loads, a small cut for households.
Western Canada
BC, AB, SK, MBSignal: Alberta is courting C$100B of AI data centers, and Meta broke ground on its first Canadian campus in Sturgeon County.
Central & Atlantic Canada
ON, QC, Atlantic provincesSignal: Hydro-Québec proposed roughly doubling the power rate for data centers over 5 MW.
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Method
The Reality Score
Announcements are cheap. Every major project in the briefing gets a Reality Score so you can tell a campus from a press release.
- 01
Power secured
Signed service agreement, interconnection position or on-site generation
- 02
Land and zoning
Site control and approvals in hand
- 03
Permits filed
Air, water, building and utility filings on record
- 04
Named end user
A hyperscaler, AI lab or tenant on the record
- 05
Money and momentum
Financing, contractors and construction activity
Scores are my editorial judgment from public records, not investment advice.
On the calendar
Dates to watch
Nov 17, 2026Loudoun County Board of Supervisors takes up the proposed pause on data center and substation applications.Feb 2027PJM incremental capacity auction for the 2027/28 delivery year.PendingQuébec's energy regulator (Régie de l'énergie) decides Hydro-Québec's proposed data center rate, file R-4333-2026.OngoingERCOT large-load interconnection reforms at the Texas PUC.
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About the author
Michael Ryan Betz
Michael is Founder & CEO of The Proper Group, a Cincinnati-based collective of 200 vetted fractional and interim executives who embed inside companies to lead through growth and change. He started in corporate America, helped scale a startup through hypergrowth, and is the author of In The Making and host of the In The Making podcast. He writes Data Center Development Watch because the build-out is now as much an operating and leadership challenge as a real estate one.
Presented by The Proper Group
The Proper Group is a collective of 200 vetted fractional and interim executives who embed inside companies to lead through growth, change and large projects, including data center and infrastructure work.
From site selection and incentives to power, permitting and the build team, The Proper Group places seasoned executives to lead the work.
Sponsor or partner with the briefing
Reaching developers, utilities, economic developers, investors and site selectors across the US and Canada.
Library
Sources & further reading
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: 2024 Report on U.S. Data Center Energy Use CBRE: North America Data Center Trends H1 2026 CBRE H1 2026: Atlanta construction market Data Center Watch: Q1 2026 report PJM 2027/28 capacity auction coverage (Utility Dive) Bloomberg via Data Center Knowledge: Big Tech 2026 capital spending ERCOT large-load queue (Data Center Frontier) Indiana county restrictions (The Bond Buyer) Alberta market overview (Baxtel) PUCO AEP Ohio data center tariff (POWER Magazine) Oregon POWER Act / PGE Schedule 96 (OPB) Data centres in Canada: current state (BLG) ERCOT queue growth (Latitude Media) Georgia Power large-load pipeline (Utility Dive) Q2 2026 local opposition (Tom's Hardware) Loudoun County: proposed application pause CBRE: North American demand and record construction Homer City gas generation campus (Utility Dive) Georgia PSC generation plan (Perkins Coie via Mondaq) SPP fast-track grid connection (Baird Holm) Meta Louisiana Hyperion expansion (ConstructConnect) Arizona data center incentives (KJZZ) Wyoming Project Jade (Inside Climate News) CBRE: Silicon Valley demand and vacancy PJM incremental capacity auction (MyChesCo) Régie de l'énergie: file R-4333-2026 Texas PUC interconnection reforms (The Texas Tribune) JLL: North America Data Center Report Midyear 2026 IU Environmental Resilience Institute Indiana tracking (Indiana Public Media)
Figures are as reported by each source on the date published. Spot an error? Email michael@michaelryanbetz.com.
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