It is really hard to find a gigawatt of available power in the short term.

Judged as of 2025-08-09. True if contemporaneous evidence (grid interconnection queue data, utility or grid-operator statements, energy-industry or data-centre analyses from around 2024-2025) shows that getting about one gigawatt of new grid or generation capacity for a single site within a short timeframe (months to roughly 1-2 years) was generally very difficult: for example, multi-year interconnection waits, constrained supply, or developers having to build their own on-site generation. Mostly true if it was generally hard but evidence shows notable exceptions or regional variation that the claim glosses over. Mixed if the evidence is evenly divided, e.g. hard in major markets but readily available in several others. Mostly false if gigawatt-scale power was mostly obtainable in the short term and difficulty was limited to particular places. False if evidence shows gigawatt-scale power was routinely and readily available on short timelines at the time.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Data centers are building their own gas power plants in Texas The Texas Tribune · 5 June 2025

   “But as the AI gold rush gathered momentum, a surge of new project proposals has created yearslong wait times to connect to the grid, prompting many developers to bypass it and build their own power supply.”

2. E2 Can We Build a Five Gigawatt Data Center? Asterisk · 1 January 2025

   “Major electricity consumers secure power through long-term contracts, so it’s likely that most of the available power, at least in the short-medium term, is already locked down.”

3. E3 Data Center developers bypassing grid to obtain power - Gas Turbine World Gas Turbine World · 15 July 2025

   “Major metros are tapped out, grid constrained, and slow to scale.”

4. E4 Data Center developers bypassing grid to obtain power - Gas Turbine World Gas Turbine World · 15 July 2025

   “Further, there are companies around who offer trailer-mounted gas turbine packages that can be onsite, within a few months of order in many cases.”

E1 (June 2025) reports that a surge of projects caused grid connection waits lasting years, and that many developers skipped the grid and built their own power supply. E2 says most of the power available in the short to medium term is probably already committed under long-term contracts. E3 (July 2025) describes major metros as tapped out, grid constrained and slow to scale. E4 says trailer-mounted gas turbines can be on site within months, but it gives no gigawatt-scale figure, and building on-site generation is one of the signs of difficulty the criteria list. Taken together, these independent sources from around the claim date match the criteria for "true".