Electricity demand in the United States is increasing while the infrastructure needed to serve that demand is taking longer to build.

In a series of webinars hosted by the National Academies Forum on Informed Investment, Technology, and Policy Pathways for the Electricity System and Interdependent Energy Infrastructure, experts pointed to a growing gap between how quickly new demand is emerging and how long it takes to expand generation and transmission systems.

“You can build a data center in two to three years, but it might take at least seven years to build new or upgraded transmission facilities,” said Debbie Lew of the Energy Systems Integration Group and member of the organizing forum.

That gap is becoming a central challenge for utilities, system operators, and policymakers. Large new loads are arriving on accelerated timelines, while planning, permitting, and construction processes for grid infrastructure remain comparatively slow.

The National Academies’ webinars brought together leaders from across the electricity system to examine how the grid is adapting to these changes. Topics included the rise of co-located generation, efforts to strengthen transmission and distribution systems, and advances in control center operations.

Through the discussions, speakers described a system under increasing pressure from multiple directions: faster demand growth, more frequent and severe disruptions, and greater complexity in how the grid is operated.

Large Loads Are Arriving Faster Than the System Can Respond
Much of the recent growth in electricity demand comes from large, concentrated sources, particularly data centers that support artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

These facilities are not only increasing in number, but also in scale and speed of deployment. At the same time, the systems needed to serve them—generation, transmission, and distribution —are facing constraints.

“The size and the speed of this load growth really impacts resource adequacy,” Lew said. “We’ve got load growing very quickly and supply being challenged these days to keep up.”

Several factors are contributing to that imbalance. Existing generation resources are retiring in some regions, while new resources face delays due to interconnection backlogs, supply chain constraints, and rising capital costs. Together, these pressures are making it more difficult to ensure that sufficient supply is available when and where it is needed.

Historically, electricity demand has grown gradually, allowing planners to align infrastructure investments with expected needs. In contrast, many of today’s large loads are being developed on compressed timelines, creating new challenges for system planning.