A modern AI training facility can draw as much electricity as a small city. That makes the grid you connect to one of the most consequential decisions in the whole project: it sets your energy cost for a decade, determines how fast you can energize, and increasingly governs whether you can meet carbon commitments. This page summarizes what to look at and how PowerGridIQ helps.
The four questions that decide a site
1. Is there system-level room?
Estimated system capacity against peak demand. This is a market-level screen, not capacity at the substation you would connect to, and it does not by itself mean a shorter queue.
2. What's the real cost?
Not just the average spot price, the 24-hour range and volatility, which determine your delivered, time-weighted cost.
3. How clean, how stable?
Carbon intensity by hour. A hydro/nuclear grid is clean around the clock; a wind/gas grid swings clean to dirty within a day.
4. How resilient?
Reserve margin and fuel diversity. Thin margins and single-fuel dependence raise the odds of curtailment and price shocks.
Why access usually comes first
Operators often start with price, but the binding constraint is more often interconnection. A grid running near its seasonal peak will quote long queues and costly network upgrades no matter how cheap the energy looks on an average day. Regions with genuine spare capacity can energize new large loads far sooner, and time-to-power is frequently worth more than a few dollars per megawatt-hour. PowerGridIQ surfaces a "system-level room" estimate for each region precisely so this constraint is visible up front.
Cheap average price ≠ cheap power
A market like ERCOT in Texas posts low average prices but punishing scarcity spikes; a hydro-dominated grid like Quebec or Norway is steadier. For a facility that runs flat-out around the clock, volatility can erase a headline price advantage. Look at the current price together with its 24-hour high and low, and judge the shape of the curve, not just the average. Our guide to wholesale prices explains why these swings happen.
Carbon is now a siting input, not an afterthought
If your sustainability reporting uses hourly matching, the intraday carbon swing matters as much as the annual average. A grid that's 90% hydro or nuclear delivers low-carbon power continuously; one that leans on gas at peak can be clean at 3 a.m. and carbon-heavy at 6 p.m. Our carbon intensity guide covers how to read and act on it.
Note: figures for regions without real-time public feeds are clearly labeled structural estimates. See our methodology for how every number is sourced and badged.