McGuireWoods partner Brian Kelly provided insight on the growing competition between data center and power generation developers for construction resources in a Feb. 9, 2026, article in Law360. Kelly, co-leader of the firm’s Energy Industry Team, noted that the surge in data center development has created intense competition for a limited construction workforce.
“Both the generator and data center developer are fighting for essentially the same construction work force, which is already constrained due to the overall demand in this industry segment,” Kelly explained.
According to Kelly, some parties are finding creative solutions to address this challenge. Energy supply agreements between data centers and generation facilities are now including price adjusters to account for sharing certain labor costs — a practical approach to managing the resource constraints affecting both industries, he said.