America's largest data center market now carries second-highest infrastructure risk nationwide as power delivery constraints outweigh 14.5 excess capacity score
## Northern Virginia Grid Strain Escalates
Northern Virginia, the world's densest concentration of hyperscale data centers, has been flagged **AVOID** in the DC Hub Data Center Power Index (DCPI) for May 25, 2026. The market's **constraint score of 64.2** now ranks second-highest among 286 tracked markets nationwide, signaling acute transmission bottlenecks and interconnection delays that outweigh its modest 14.5 excess power availability.
The warning comes as Northern Virginia's PJM grid territory faces compounding pressures: aging transmission infrastructure, multi-year interconnection queues, and a generation retirement wave colliding with unprecedented AI-driven demand. With a constraint score nearly three times its excess score, the market presents the highest execution risk per megawatt of any Tier-1 colocation hub.
## Top BUILD Markets Present Clear Contrast
DC Hub's DCPI simultaneously highlights **Cheyenne, WY** (WECC) as the nation's top build opportunity, with a 69.5 excess power score and only 22.5 constraint — a 3:1 advantage ratio. **Rural SPP markets in Kansas** (67.2 excess, 22.5 constraint) and **Midlothian, TX** (ERCOT, 65.6 excess, 17.6 constraint) round out the top three, offering both surplus generation and low-friction interconnection paths.
Mount Pleasant, WI (MISO) carries the nation's highest constraint score at 80.0, followed by Northern Virginia at 64.2 and Phoenix (WECC) at 61.5.
## Methodology
The DCPI Constraint Index synthesizes transmission congestion data, interconnection queue depth, voltage stability, and regulatory friction across 286 U.S. markets. Scores above 60 trigger AVOID flags; scores below 25 signal greenfield-ready environments.
**Source:** DC Hub Data Center Power Index (https://dchub.cloud/dcpi). Updated daily.
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