Both the government and private sector have emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) to the economic and security interests of the United States. However, the AI computing revolution is increasing energy demand at a breakneck pace and requires speed to market for solutions that are rarely available to data centers under the current regulatory framework. While developing data center projects and placing them into service is difficult under the best of circumstances, aging electric infrastructure, uncertainty around the retirement of generation resources, and inadequate interconnection resources have increased the hurdles to bringing new data centers online. Recognizing these challenges, industry participants, system operators, and regulators are proposing, evaluating, and implementing potential solutions. From queue reform to co-location of load and generation, regulators at both the federal and state level are attempting to provide actionable guidance that accelerates
