The mechanism: Every hyperscale data center campus needs one thing before it needs GPUs -- an interconnection agreement with a regional transmission organization or a vertically integrated utility. FERC's Order No. 2023 (2023) tried to fix the queue backlog by forcing transmission providers into "cluster studies" and a first-ready, first-served model instead of first-come, first-served. It helped some. It did not change the underlying physics: connecting gigawatts of new load still requires new transmission lines, step-up transformers, substations, and switchyards that take years to permit, engineer, and build -- regardless of how fast the paperwork moves. That physical bottleneck, not the software layer, is where the money actually gets made.
Who cashes in: