Inside Digital Infrastructure: Enchanted Rock’s Joel Yu on Speed to Power and Data Center Siting
Step into the full digital infrastructure ecosystem with our Q&A series featuring innovators who are redefining what’s possible across data centers, fiber networks, broadband, and next‑generation connectivity. Hear from investors, lenders, developers, and operators on what’s changing across power, capital, and risk — and what it takes to scale at speed.
Joel Yu, Senior Vice President of Policy & External Affairs at Enchanted Rock, joins Steven Shparber, Co-chair of Mintz’s Digital Infrastructure Practice, to discuss how power availability has become the gating factor for data center development.
In this Q&A, Joel breaks down what “speed to power” looks like in practice, why community acceptance and grid reliability are now part of the same conversation, and which policy shifts could help projects move faster without pushing risk onto the grid or ratepayers.
How Data Center Power Requirements Are Evolving Amid AI‑Driven Growth
Steven: How have the power needs of data centers changed most significantly over the past year?
Joel: Data centers traditionally planned new sites around access to high-capacity fiber when grid interconnection timelines were more predictable and diesel generators were considered adequate for backup power. Over the past two years, power availability has become the key factor for siting data centers. The increasing scale and number of data centers mean that developers are likely to face multi-year transmission delays, logjammed interconnection queues, and supply chain challenges to meet the demand for compute. As a result, power strategy has moved upstream in project planning and become a primary gating factor for investment decisions.
One of the most important shifts underway within the last few months is broad recognition that power strategy, community acceptance, and grid reliability are no longer separate conversations — the discussion is converging around the challenge of AI-driven data center growth. As data center development expands into new regions, communities and regulators are asking practical questions about grid impacts, local infrastructure, and long-term system costs. Developers are finding that success depends on addressing those concerns early, particularly by demonstrating how projects will operate responsibly within the local electric system rather than simply adding demand to it. Transparency and early coordination with utilities and stakeholders are becoming essential elements of project development.
In response, we are seeing a transition toward more integrated planning approaches. Large power users like data centers are working to demonstrate how they will manage reliability risks, limit impacts on existing ratepayers, and align with broader grid planning. In practical terms, that means data centers are investing in solutions that can deliver power before the grid arrives, maintain uptime during grid stress, and operate flexibly to provide benefits back to the grid rather than simply drawing from the system.
Enabling Speed to Power: How On‑Site Generation Is Accelerating Data Center Development
Steven: How is Enchanted Rock helping to address these needs?
Joel: Enchanted Rock focuses on enabling what many developers now view as the critical objective: speed to power. Our solution delivers on that objective without shifting reliability or cost risk to the grid or surrounding community. We do this by deploying dispatchable on-site generation that works in concert with utility infrastructure. Our systems provide immediate, prime power while transmission upgrades or interconnections are completed, allowing data center projects to move forward on realistic timelines rather than waiting years for access to the grid.
Once interconnected, our generators enhance operational resilience during outages, reduce peak system strain, and can support grid stability during periods of stress. This transforms on-site power from a purely defensive backup measure into an operational asset for both the customer and the broader electric system.
From a policy standpoint, this model aligns with regulatory objectives to maintain reliability and affordability by placing operational and infrastructure responsibility with the customers driving new demand. Large-load customers maintain operational flexibility while taking responsibility for their own reliability needs — an approach that regulators and utilities increasingly view as essential as load growth accelerates.
Regulatory and Policy Changes Needed to Unlock Faster Power for Data Centers
Steven: What regulatory and policy changes would you like to see enacted to better enable speed to power for data centers?
Joel: From a policy standpoint, the primary challenge is adapting existing regulatory frameworks to accommodate the speed and scale of large-load development. Recent regulatory actions have begun to acknowledge this reality, particularly by recognizing co-located generation and more flexible transmission service arrangements.
Continued progress in three areas would meaningfully improve outcomes:
- Clearer frameworks for integrating large loads with on-site generation: Policies that evaluate projects for speedy interconnection based on net system impact, rather than gross load alone, better reflect how modern facilities actually operate.
- Expanded interim, flexible transmission service options: Allowing customers to accept curtailment risk in exchange for earlier energization creates a market-based pathway to faster deployment without compromising system reliability.
- Permitting reform: While on-site generation provides tremendous strategic value for overcoming the challenges of today, AI demand is likely to generate strong, sustained demand growth on the grid over the long term. For the US grid to rise to the challenge, policymakers need to streamline permitting processes and create a foundation of regulatory certainty to support major investments in large-scale energy infrastructure, including all the supply resources in the technology portfolio, transmission lines, and gas pipelines. Taken together, these approaches enable innovation while preserving the core regulatory objectives of reliability, affordability, and system integrity — outcomes that ultimately benefit utilities, customers, and the communities they serve.
What’s Next for Data Centers, Grid Reliability, and Speed to Power
Steven: Looking ahead 12 months, what are you most excited about?
Joel: We are seeing growing alignment among developers, utilities, regulators, and policymakers around the idea that data centers can be designed as active participants in grid reliability rather than purely as sources of demand. That shift opens the door to more collaborative planning models and faster project execution.
I’m particularly encouraged by the increasing willingness across the ecosystem to experiment with new operational and regulatory frameworks — including flexible interconnection structures and grid-interactive power solutions. These approaches recognize that meeting AI-driven demand growth will require both infrastructure investment and operational innovation.
If the industry continues moving in this direction, we’ll win the AI race and secure a bright American future supported by energy abundance.
How Integrated Planning Between Utilities and Data Centers Is Reshaping Grid Reliability
Steven: “Integrated planning approaches” are typically a utility responsibility — how is Enchanted Rock involved in supporting better planning for data center loads?
Joel: The relationship between data center operators and electric utilities is evolving. Instead of a traditional model where large customers wait for grid expansion, there is growing collaboration around flexible interconnection approaches, phased energization, and operational solutions that align project timelines with system capabilities. Enchanted Rock’s long history of providing grid flexibility through the deployment of on-site, dispatchable generation serves as a foundation of trust for collaborative efforts with the utilities. All parties share an understanding that current infrastructure planning processes alone cannot keep pace with the speed of AI-driven load growth.
This close coordination is also reshaping reliability planning itself. Historically, planners focus primarily on building stand-alone generation to meet projected demand. Increasingly, they are looking at how large loads can contribute operational flexibility — through on-site resources, demand management, or coordinated operations — to help maintain system stability and reliability for existing customers.
A common misconception is that data center growth inevitably creates reliability or affordability challenges. In practice, outcomes depend on how needed infrastructure is designed and deployed to integrate new loads. When large-load customers take responsibility for managing their system impacts and invest in flexible energy solutions, they support grid reliability rather than strain it.
Enchanted Rock provides a bridge for large data centers to move away from being passive electricity consumers and toward serving as active participants in the power system.
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