Episode 01

Welcome to the Icarus Data Center briefing your weekly signal on the infrastructure behind ai. I'm James Brand. Today's episode, the power bottleneck is shifting. If you're following the hyperscale, build out, you already know powers the new land. But the real story is how quickly the bottlenecks are changing from transmission to interconnection, to permitting.

Let's break down the week's key signals. Load flexibility could unlock 100 gigawatts. A new paper from Energy Analyst Tyler Norris titled, rethinking Load Growth is gaining traction across utility circles. Norris argues that data centers willing to curtail power use for just a few hours per year could unlock nearly a hundred gigawatts of capacity on constrained US grids.

This doesn't just mean faster access to power, it means a completely different grid planning model. Some of this is already underway. PGM, for example, recently expanded its large load [00:01:00] interconnection pathways from three to eight options, including several that reward flexibility, ramping and coate located storage for developers.

This opens the door to more creative contract structures and potentially years shaved off interconnection cues. Dominion energy enters phased interconnection era. Okay. Over in Virginia, dominion Energy has begun piloting phased energization for large data center campuses. Instead of waiting for full site interconnection sites may now come online in stages aligned with grid capacity buildouts.

This is a direct response to mounting AI loads demand across Northern Virginia's data center alley, where existing transmission infrastructure is nearing limits. We're also seeing developers get creative. Pairing smaller substations with onsite gen or batteries just to get capacity moving interconnect Q [00:02:00] velocity, Kaiso versus Ercot in the west.

Kaiso has quietly improved Q velocity by centralizing interconnection studies through its new Q Reform initiative. Meanwhile, ERCOT continues to move fast, but it's also seeing record queue congestion with AI driven campuses proposed outside Houston, Dallas, and increasingly near load pockets in the valley and Panhandle.

Some developers are starting to split large sites into modular pods with separate queue positions. Just to hedge timing, risk policy, watch FERC 2025 planning rule incoming. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC is expected to finalize a new long range transmission planning rule this fall. This could prioritize multi-state planning, shift cost allocation rules, and make it easier to co optimize grid upgrades with large, [00:03:00] flexible loads like data centers.

Why it matters. Projects with regional implications, like those tapping multiple ISOs or targeting grid edge markets may see a clear regulatory path in 2026 and beyond. That's it for this week's Icarus briefing. To get these updates in your inbox and access archived episodes, please subscribe. If you found this useful, share it with someone else navigating the energy and infrastructure maze.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the grid.

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