"Google is facing waiting times of more than ten years to connect new data centers to the US power grid. According to a Google energy manager, transmission barriers are the biggest challenge to expanding data center infrastructure. The technology giant is reaching the limits of the US electricity system. Marsden Hanna, Global Head of Sustainability and Climate Policy at Google, told an American Enterprise Institute event that one energy company even indicated that studying the interconnection timeline would take 12 years."
"Google is looking for alternatives to circumvent the long waiting times. The company is investigating colocation arrangements in which data centers are placed directly next to power plants. This construction allows complete bypass of the transmission system. 'That's the strategy we're pursuing with colocation and our hope is that these can eventually be grid-connected resources,' Hanna said. In general, Google prefers to connect to the power grid. But reality forces pragmatism."
Google faces multi-year waits — often exceeding ten years — to connect new data centers to the U.S. power grid because transmission interconnection barriers are limiting expansion. Rapid growth of energy-intensive data centers for AI workloads is putting unprecedented pressure on grid capacity. Google is exploring colocation, placing data centers adjacent to power plants to bypass transmission constraints and potentially serve as grid-connected resources. Colocation raises cost-allocation and reliability questions when existing power plant output is diverted to a single customer, prompting federal and regional regulators to consider guidelines. Addressing licensing timelines for new transmission and deploying technologies to increase supply from the existing system are necessary to reduce waiting times.
Read at Techzine Global
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