From https://www.techradar.com/pro/how-d...e-currently-being-delayed-stalled-or-canceled
Title : 'How do you know what's real?': US utilities are making AI data centers prove they exist before handing over power connections — as 50% of planned buildouts are currently being delayed, stalled, or canceled
By Rahim Amir , Oct 2026
... Because grid costs are shared, phantom demand risks landing on household bills, and nobody knows how much of it is real yet.
... developers have requested 1,066GW of grid connections for US data centers, according to a Wood Mackenzie analysis .. in August 2026, a figure equal to roughly 83% of the country's entire utility-scale generating capacity at the end of 2025.
Wood Mackenzie expects utilities to commit to serving only about 29% of it: roughly 12% that already has firm service commitments, plus a further 17% that looks likely...
Utility Dive was writing about phantom data centers in 2025, and TR reported in July that 67% of electricity executives surveyed by Capgemini were seeing speculative applications for capacity. The change is that utilities are now pricing the problem, and it is causing many adverse effects ...
PJM's (the largest US grid operator) independent market monitor told federal regulators that .. 42% of the growth it had assumed, had already been canceled or delayed ...
Underbuilding carries its own risks, though, especially when transformers can take years to arrive ...
What nobody can yet say is how much of the AI power rush is real, and that poses problems for planners, stakeholders, and households alike ...
Title : 'How do you know what's real?': US utilities are making AI data centers prove they exist before handing over power connections — as 50% of planned buildouts are currently being delayed, stalled, or canceled
By Rahim Amir , Oct 2026
... Because grid costs are shared, phantom demand risks landing on household bills, and nobody knows how much of it is real yet.
... developers have requested 1,066GW of grid connections for US data centers, according to a Wood Mackenzie analysis .. in August 2026, a figure equal to roughly 83% of the country's entire utility-scale generating capacity at the end of 2025.
Wood Mackenzie expects utilities to commit to serving only about 29% of it: roughly 12% that already has firm service commitments, plus a further 17% that looks likely...
Utility Dive was writing about phantom data centers in 2025, and TR reported in July that 67% of electricity executives surveyed by Capgemini were seeing speculative applications for capacity. The change is that utilities are now pricing the problem, and it is causing many adverse effects ...
PJM's (the largest US grid operator) independent market monitor told federal regulators that .. 42% of the growth it had assumed, had already been canceled or delayed ...
Underbuilding carries its own risks, though, especially when transformers can take years to arrive ...
What nobody can yet say is how much of the AI power rush is real, and that poses problems for planners, stakeholders, and households alike ...
