4 things data center providers must do

For decades, the data center industry operated by a simple playbook: Find fiber, find a cluster, call the utility last. Energy was an afterthought. The prolonged contraction of U.S. industry left surplus power that our sector absorbed on favorable terms, without owing much in return. Today, energy is both the most critical and most constrained variable in our business. Speed to power has become the single biggest determinant of whether a project gets built and how quickly it can start operating. No amount of capital, land, or connectivity compensates for a five-year interconnection queue. We know that generation capacity is a vanity metric if you can’t move power intelligently. But even the smartest grid will fail without social license. The operators that succeed in the next decade will treat trust as a critical resource and develop partnerships with utilities, regulators, and the neighbors who make our growth possible. 4 THINGS DATA CENTER PROVIDERS MUST DO Succeeding requires a fundamental change in how we show up. Here are four things data center providers must do to earn their place on the grid. 1. Only enter a market if you really plan to build The growing trend of premature…