Excess capacity in WECC and SPP markets hits 69.5 MW and 67.2 MW respectively—signaling strongest builder tailwind outside major coastal hubs
## Highlights
Cheyenne, Wyoming (WECC) and Rural SPP (Kansas) are trading as the top two US data center markets by excess power availability this week, each posting excess indices of 69.5 MW and 67.2 MW respectively. Both markets carry identical grid constraint readings of 22.5 MW, indicating comparable transmission tightness relative to available capacity.
These two non-coastal markets are outpacing the national median by a material margin, reflecting a sustained shift in builder interest away from California, Virginia, and Texas saturation toward secondary WECC and SPP corridors.
## What It Means
For a capacity planner evaluating a 10–50 MW colocation or hyperscaler build, Cheyenne and Rural SPP now offer the lowest time-to-power and the most predictable grid-interconnection timelines in the country. Constraint-to-excess ratios (1:3 in both cases) suggest that additional load can be absorbed without triggering major transmission upgrades, lowering capex risk and shortening permitting cycles.
This is not a mid-cycle dip. SPP's published interconnection queue remains elevated, but these two specific nodes are pulling load faster than new requests arrive. Investors who have treated Wyoming and Kansas as secondary markets should recalibrate.
## Second-Order Read
The persistence of Cheyenne and Rural SPP at the top of excess capacity while major ISO queues elsewhere remain congested suggests that colocation and hyperscaler procurement teams have already begun diversifying. Demand is moving faster than most published forecasts anticipated. Developers holding uncommitted land in WECC Tier 2 and SPP markets should expect aggressive RFP activity in Q3 and Q4; developers in California, Northern Virginia, and greater Dallas should budget for longer negotiations and higher per-MW capex.
## Methodology
The DC Hub Power Index (DCPI) measures excess capacity (total available power minus historical peak load) and constraint (transmission bottlenecks) at the market level. Markets are ranked by excess index daily across 280+ US and global regions. Data is sourced from ISO operational reports, facility-level telemetry, and interconnection queues.
Source: DC Hub Data Center Power Index (https://dchub.cloud/dcpi). Updated daily.