US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
Key takeaways
- As the insatiable demand for power of AI Labs and hyperscalers keeps accelerating, the grid simply can’t add capacity fast enough.
- Today, we go deeper and model US Grid capacity to understand the shortfall that must be filled by Behind-The-Meter solutions for datacenters.
- Let’s start with key numbers: first, we continue to see a record datacenter buildout in the US, going from +21GW in 2026 to +84GW by 2030.
As the insatiable demand for power of AI Labs and hyperscalers keeps accelerating, the grid simply can’t add capacity fast enough. That leaves Behind-The-Meter as the only way for the largest players to secure the power they need. Nearly a year ago, our Onsite Gas deep dive was the first to predict the fast rise of new entrants in the BTM gas equipment market. Since then, companies like Bloom Energy, Bergen Engines, Wärtsilä and many others have been remarkably successful. Overcoming GEV and Siemens turbine capacity constraints proved far easier than many had feared.
Today, we go deeper and model US Grid capacity to understand the shortfall that must be filled by Behind-The-Meter solutions for datacenters.
Let’s start with key numbers: first, we continue to see a record datacenter buildout in the US, going from +21GW in 2026 to +84GW by 2030. We explained in detail last week why Datacenter Delays headlines are often overblown.