U.S. Issues Record Data Center Permits in 2025, Projecting 50% Rise in Electricity Use Alongside $600B Industry Investment

For air permits issued through 2025 that regulate backup generators at data centers. The search identified permits for 176 new facilities across 34 states—the highest annual total since the first such permit was granted in 1976. 8 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, a 50% increase over the prior year across the range.

U.S. state in 2024 except Texas. The vast majority of the projected load comes from hyperscale facilities rated at 40 megawatts or more.

Amazon planned a 14-building complex on nearly 800 acres of rural woodland in Ridgeland, Mississippi. 2 million square feet on a site nearly the size of New York City’s Central Park.

U.S. Homes. Kaitlyn Gruenbacher, a third-generation farmer in Sedgwick County, Kansas, learned early this year that a developer had purchased or signed agreements for more than 300 acres directly across the road from her home. Residents opposed that project and two others at town-hall meetings, citing risks to the Equus Beds Aquifer that lies as little as 30 feet below the surface and supplies irrigation and drinking water.

Some of the largest data centers use several million gallons of water per day. 6 billion in forgone revenue that year. , data centers contributed to a 76% rise in wholesale power costs in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a May 2026 report by PJM’s independent market monitor, Monitoring Analytics.

The report stated that customers are already bearing billions of dollars in higher costs from existing and forecast data-center load. Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, and other companies pledged in late 2025 to pay their share of future grid investments. 75% franchise fee on electricity use.