Joel Yu, Senior Vice President of Policy & External Affairs at Enchanted Rock, joins Steven Shparber, Co-chair of Mintz's Digital Infrastructure Practice, to discuss how power availability has become the gating factor for data center development.
In this Q&A, Joel breaks down what “speed to power” looks like in practice, why community acceptance and grid reliability are now part of the same conversation, and which policy shifts could help projects move faster without pushing risk onto the grid or ratepayers.
How Data Center Power Requirements Are Evolving Amid AI-Driven Growth
Steven: How have the power needs of data centers changed most significantly over the past year?
Joel: Data centers traditionally planned new sites around access to high-capacity fiber when grid interconnection timelines were more predictable and diesel generators were considered adequate for backup power. Over the past two years, power availability has become the key factor for siting data centers. The