Only a few years ago, building and commissioning a data center was a very different proposition. Power wasn’t even in the equation. It was a commodity—always available and never an issue. You didn’t think twice about equipment. It just showed up on time.
The mantra back then was speed. It wasn’t inconceivable to build a data center in less than 12 months from dirt to delivery. The expression was: You can finish as fast as concrete can dry. That’s right—concrete was one of the long-lead items.
No one says that now. In fact, no one thinks much about concrete at all anymore.
Our New Normal: Requirements, Fees, and Delays
Circumstances have changed dramatically for hyperscalers and developers alike. I remember the first time a utility required a substation for a new project. That’s not a small ask—they cost tens of millions of dollars and take up acres of land. Plus, each one has to be built, operated, and maintained.
This requirement soon became standard, and today, no one can build a large-scale data center without building a substation. Yes, cost goes up 50 million USD, and seven acres of the site is lost, but that’s not the biggest impact. With all the new demand for equipment, a transformer now takes 48 months to deliver. The supply chain has been impacted accordingly, and the constraint has created a new long-lead item.
The cost of the substation isn’t the only new expense regarding power. To fund grid expansion, utilities have begun charging new fees to developers and hyperscalers that can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Critically, these fees are just to get the power routed to the site—not to create it, not to use it, only to secure its availability.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Clint Heiden is an industry veteran and Internet pioneer with more than three decades of executive leadership experience in the data center, telecommunications, and Internet technology industries. Heiden is currently Chief Commercial Officer of EdgeCore. He founded the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC), a global executive independent committee chaired by Dr. Vint Cerf that was established to diversify the Internet and create more interconnection hubs around the world.
Previously, Heiden held senior leadership roles in companies like QTS Data Centers, Cable & Wireless America, Exodus, Digital Island, Qwest, MCI, Intellifiber Networks, PAETEC, Sidera, Lightower, and UUNET.
