For 20 years, the blueprint for data centers was simple: find some land, get in line for power, and trust that the utility could deliver. Data centers and power infrastructure got built on separate tracks because the grid had room to spare. That model is gone. Today, with long lead times for equipment, multi-year interconnection queues, and the pressure to bring your own generation, it all has to be sequenced together. And on top of it all, public opinion has radically shifted against data centers, adding new risks. In this episode, recorded live at our Transition-AI conference in April, we hear from two executives navigating all of it: Holly Adams, SVP of Energy at Beale Infrastructure, and Ian Black, SVP and Global Head of Energy at Digital Realty. They cover the similarities between renewables and data centers, the changing definition of &quot;powered land,&quot; the evolution of large load tariffs, how community opposition has grown, and the hard questions around bringing your own generation that utilities are betting developers won&#x27;t solve. Get your ticket to Latitude Media’s Flex Summit in Austin, Texas on October 14-15. Credits: Co-hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Caroline Golin. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey, Sean Marquand, and Anne Bailey. This episode was mixed by Matthew Filler. Open Circuit is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company’s messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com.

The new reality for data centers: no easy answers

Open Circuit

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Open Circuit

## Participants

- **Stephen Lacey** (Latitude Media)
- **Holly Adams** (Beal Infrastructure)
- **Ian Black** (Digital Realty)
- **Holly Adams** (Beal Infrastructure)
- **Ian Black** (Digital Realty)

## Transcript

Latitude Media, covering the new frontiers of the energy transition. From Latitude Media, this is Open Circuit. For 20 years, the blueprint for data centers was simple. Find the land, get in line for power, and trust that the utility could deliver quickly. Consequently, data centers and power infrastructure got built on separate tracks, because the grid had room to spare. But that model is gone.

Today, with long lead times for equipment, multi-year interconnection queues, and the pressure to bring your own generation, it all has to be sequenced together. And that's creating a whole new set of challenges for developers. And on top of it all, public opinion has radically shifted against data centers. And it's impossible to take for granted that people will actually want you in their town. This week, we hear from two executives at the front lines of data center development to hear how they're navigating all of it.

Open Circuit is supported by Fishtank PR, an award-winning PR firm focused on climate and energy tech, renewables and sustainability. Fishtank is known for providing smart relations that connect brands to journalists on both today and tomorrow's most important energy stories. If you want a PR partner that's thoughtful, shoots straight and gets results, you'll like Fishtank PR. To learn more about Fishtank's approach, visit fishtankpr.com. That's F-I-S-C-H fishtankpr.com.

Hello, welcome to the show. I'm Stephen Lacey, the executive editor at Latitude Media. Jigar Shah and Caroline are out this 4th of July week. And in our place of our normal show, we're bringing you a conversation I moderated on stage at our Transition AI conference in April. It features two people who spent their careers in clean energy, who are now leading two major data center developers. Holly Adams is SVP of energy at Beal Infrastructure, a data center developer backed by Blue Owl Capital.

Beal is not an owner-operator. Instead, they develop and deliver infrastructure on behalf of customers. And they focus on secondary markets like Tulsa, Tucson, and Kansas City. Ian Black is SVP and global head of energy at Digital Realty, one of the largest data center owner-operators in the world. It's a publicly traded REIT with roughly 300 facilities across 50 metro areas globally. And in this conversation, we touch on almost everything that is keeping data center developers up at night right now.

Community opposition, equipment lead times, constraints on powered land, large load tariffs, and the risks of bring your own generation. I really enjoyed this one. And so before we get into it, I just want to mention that Latitude Media has officially launched registration for our Flex Summit 2026. That is going to be in Aust...

The new reality for data centers: no easy answers

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

The new reality for data centers: no easy answers

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.