Data center growth in the Pacific Northwest is being severely hampered by existing power generation and transmission capacity constraints, according to Brian Janous, chief commercial officer at Cloverleaf Infrastructure and former vice president of energy at Microsoft.

Janous made the remarks when speaking at a briefing on data centers for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC). Despite the concerns, he asserted that several measures exist to unlock system capacity.

“If I'm a grid operator, what are the things I can do between now and 2030 to unlock incremental capacity on my system … with things like grid enhancing technologies and storage?”

The briefing on Wednesday is part of the NPCC’s preparation of its 20-year regional power plan for Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington, which is expected to be issued in 2026.

According to a power supply adequacy assessment released in July, data center and chip fabrication energy demand in the region is projected to grow to 34.8 million MWh by 2029 under a “mid-case” scenario and as high as 57 million MWh.

As a result, the Pacific Northwest is in dire need of transmission investment. A regional transmission organization could significantly aid in this, contends Janous. “It would make it easier to invest in the region because you wouldn't be dealing with the complexity of the system as it exists today,” he said.

Janous also told the NPCC that colocated gas-fired power plants could initially act as a bridge to low-carbon energy sources and then transition to backup generators, displacing diesel generation sets.

“Those behind-the-meter assets can serve as bridging capacity in the short run,” Janous said. “They can serve as peaking capacity for the grid in the medium term, and then long term, they can become the backup resources for the data centers.”

Clair Moeller, president and chief operating officer of US grid operator Midcontinent Independent System Operator, has also promoted using natural gas as a bridging mechanism. He argued that data centers could rely on gas-fired generation in the short term to meet the sky-high demand. The power plants could then be used as emergency backup power for the grid.

Additionally, Janous said that capital-rich data centers could fund energy infrastructure projects, allowing them to secure a power connection more quickly.

“There is a lot of opportunity to fund infrastructure projects on the back of individual customers or a subset of customers that really hasn't ever existed before, not at this scale,” he said.

The Pacific Northwest's data center market has grown rapidly in recent years as more hyperscale facilities are built to meet soaring demand. Amazon has several data centers in Oregon, while Microsoft has facilities in Quincy, Washington, and has purchased land in Malaga for a new campus.

Despite the concern, significant investment has been made in the Pacific Northwest's transmission infrastructure over 2024. In October, the Bonneville Power Administration proposed 13 new transmission projects to expand the region's grid infrastructure. The projects are estimated to cost approximately $3 billion combined.

Cloverleaf Infrastructure is a clean energy developer that aims to collaborate with regional US utilities and data center operators to deliver scalable clean electricity through investments in transmission, grid interconnection, land, onsite power generation, and electricity storage.

In July, it secured $300 million in funding for its clean energy data center campuses from private equity investors NGP and Sandbrook Capital, along with contributions from its management team.