Nearly 160 data center projects across the United States have been paused or canceled since 2024, as communities resist an industry that demands more electricity and water. “We’re seeing pushback and challenges to data center development,” said Dan Thompson, an analyst with 451 Research at S&P Global Energy, on a webinar last week.
The fight spans conservative Texas, liberal New York and swing-state Pennsylvania. Each has enacted measures in recent months to curb the data center boom, while voters raise concerns about electricity and water consumption as the United States approaches its midterm elections.
Who Gets to Say No
S&P Global tracks 157 projects that developers have paused, severely delayed or canceled. Thompson estimated that roughly two-thirds of the projects the firm tracks face some kind of delay, citing community opposition and pending legislation. He called the resistance a “key risk” for projects already underway.
Opposition isn’t limited to neighbors worried about what a facility might do nearby. Some people object to artificial intelligence and the companies developing it, regardless of where a data center is built. A Utah State University poll found that opposition increased the closer a hypothetical data center was to a respondent’s home.
But a project’s impact on household power prices depends on its power contracts and how much local grid infrastructure needs upgrading, said Tony Lenoir, associate director at 451 Research. The Senate’s permitting reform bill includes provisions requiring data centers to pay for grid upgrades. Who pays, and what a community is asked to absorb, remains part of the dispute.
Projects Move; Demand Keeps Climbing
Despite the slowdown, 451 Research projects that power demand from U.S. computing hubs will climb from 50 gigawatts last year to 154 gigawatts by 2030. That projection reflects projects in mid-to-late development. Stefanie Williams, a 451 Research associate director, said delayed projects typically haven’t completed permitting and are encountering local opposition to rezoning.
Developers often wait for permits before ordering equipment and signing power supply agreements. When projects stall, they can face delays securing equipment such as transformers and turbines. Some developers are shifting proposed facilities to communities more willing to approve data center construction, Williams said.
In Iowa, Google initially planned a $1 billion data center in Linn County. After the county adopted data center regulations, the company asked a neighboring community with more lenient rules to annex its site. The project’s path now turns, in part, on which local rules the company can secure.
Williams said a key question is whether political leaders follow through on pledges to limit data center construction after the midterms. “It could be a question of watching what happens in the coming year,” she said.
The Infrastructure Behind the Boom
The International Renewable Energy Agency said data centers are “particularly significant” to power-demand forecasts because they can “grow faster than power-system infrastructure.” Its report calls for faster renewables-based electrification in transportation, housing and industry, alongside efficiency investments and grid expansion.
The agency said efficiency, grid expansion and flexibility matter as much as renewable deployment to a balanced, rapid and affordable transition. Its warning comes alongside a projected surge in computing-hub electricity demand and a contest over permits, land use and who pays for grid upgrades.
Lenoir described the moment as “a revolution within a revolution” and said the core tension is one the industry is dealing with today. For people organizing against proposed facilities, the immediate question is whether community opposition can shape what gets built—or whether developers can simply move their plans to a place with rules they find easier to live with. The projection puts computing-hub demand at 154 gigawatts by 2030.