Global Energy Monitor: over 97 GW of gas-fired power in the US pipeline were explicitly earmarked for data centers in 2025, compared with just 4 GW in 2024
Gas projects in the US pipeline explicitly linked to data centers increased by almost 25 times over the past two years, according to new research from Global Energy Monitor.
Context & Ripple Effects
Earlier coverage had already placed data centers on a steep US power-demand trajectory: a federal lab estimate put their 2028 share of US electricity use as high as 12%, while the IEA projected they could account for nearly half of US electricity-demand growth through 2030. The pipeline figure shows how that demand outlook is translating into named generation proposals rather than abstract load forecasts.
The story matters because it ties data-center expansion directly to gas-project development, making power availability—and the emissions and permitting consequences of that choice—a central constraint on new compute capacity.
First-order effects
- Developers have identified more than 97 GW of proposed US gas-fired capacity for data centers, sharply expanding the set of generation projects whose commercial rationale depends on data-center load.
- Data-center operators and their power partners face a more explicit trade-off: gas can be positioned as dedicated capacity, but projects now carry a direct link between compute expansion and fossil-generation development.
Second-order effects
- Permitting and local scrutiny are likely to concentrate on these projects; later air-permit reporting tied projects at 11 campuses to more than 129 million tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions, illustrating the scale at issue if proposals proceed.
- Utilities, developers, and large data-center customers will face stronger pressure to demonstrate that new capacity is deliverable, not merely announced, as power access becomes a gating input for campus build-outs.
Third-order effects
- If dedicated gas proposals continue to grow, US AI infrastructure will increasingly be planned as utility infrastructure, with generation choices becoming as consequential as servers and real estate.
- The pattern could intensify disputes over who bears grid and environmental costs of concentrated new load, particularly where dedicated projects seek permits or network connections; the eventual mix depends on which projects are actually built.
The trend: Data-center expansion is turning power procurement from a facility-operations issue into a core infrastructure and permitting strategy, including proposals for dedicated generation.