News Analysis

Energy Demand Is Surging. Why Is Delivering the Infrastructure a Struggle?

Permitting, grid constraints and a widening gap between announced capacity and actual construction are testing the U.S. energy infrastructure boom

By Bryan Gottlieb

Images/Oracle; Burns & McDonnell; Evan Simons/Courtesy Floodlight; GameChange Energy

Clockwise from top left: Oracle’s Project Jupiter data center campus under construction in New Mexico; transmission and substation infrastructure built to serve a hyperscale data center in South Carolina; onsite generation serving a New Jersey data center; and a large power transformer. As data center construction drives increasing demands for electricity, infrastructure work in power generation, transmission and distribution is hampered by supply chain and permitting constraints, industry executives report.

October 27, 2026

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