Will the Grid Kill Your Growth? Power Risks You Can’t Ignore with Keith McHugh

“Will the Grid Kill Your Growth?” explored how aging grid infrastructure, accelerating electrification, and surging demand from AI, data centers, and industrial expansion are turning power availability into a strategic growth risk, not just an operational issue. The panel examined what’s really happening across utilities, developers, and energy buyers, and how organizations can plan proactively to avoid stalled growth and stranded assets.

Key Takeaways:

Power availability has become the gating factor for growth. Whether you’re siting a data center, expanding manufacturing, or electrifying operations, access to reliable, timely power is now as critical as real estate, talent, or capital—and in many cases more constrained.
Most organizations are engaging the grid far too late. Across industries, capacity issues are often discovered deep into project planning or even after capital has been committed, when utilities can no longer accommodate new load without years of delay. Early utility engagement and power-informed site strategy are now essential.
Resilience requires a portfolio approach—not a single solution. The path forward will involve a mix of long-term PPAs, grid partnerships, behind-the-meter solutions like microgrids and storage, and standardized resilience frameworks tailored to facility criticality. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but there is a clear need for earlier, more integrated planning.

“What really stood out to me is that power is no longer just an input to growth—it’s a constraint on growth. The organizations that win will be the ones that stop treating the grid as a given and start planning for energy availability with the same rigor they apply to capital, real estate, and long-term strategy. I love the fact that we were able to bring out some real tangible solutions, real examples from customers of ours that we have gone through this.”

Contributor:

Keith McHugh