The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told state regulators that large-load interconnection requests had surged 227% year over year, and more than 70% were tied to data centers. The volume of large-load requests more than tripled, from 56 gigawatts to 205 gigawatts.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) has spent four decades tracking the upstream signals behind shifts like that, down to the project level, so decision-makers can see what is moving from plan to execution and what is slipping.

The Origin and Evolution of IIR

Industrial Info Resources began in 1983, founded by Ed Lewis during the recession that battered energy and industrial markets. The company says Lewis recruited veteran process engineers and plant managers who were taking early retirement after layoffs, and leveraged their expertise to build a repeatable research methodology.

According to IIR, its current research leaders represent more than 256 years of experience, a measure of continuity in an industry where project timelines can really span years.

Methodology and Data Philosophy

IIR describes its approach as direct-from-the-source reporting. Its research teams track daily changes in industrial projects worldwide, and revalidate project details as scopes, schedules, and bidders change.

Lewis puts the emphasis on credibility. “In today’s AI-driven world, data is everywhere, but not all data is created equal,” he said. “At Industrial Info Resources, we’ve built a 40-year reputation on one core principle: data is only valuable when it’s accurate, validated, and actionable.”

He has framed IIR’s mission as a provider of verified project-level visibility that executives can trust, rather than forecasts that depend on assumptions (or unreliable third-party sources). IIR says it relies on more than 500 researchers across five continents and teams that speak 59 languages.

In its reporting, IIR says it is tracking almost 250,000 current and future projects valued at $32.1 trillion globally across energy, manufacturing, and process industries. Of this, ther are 35,300 active projects worth $7.8 trillion located in the United States.

Energy and Industrial Market Trends

The power story behind the data center boom is one of a timing problem. The U.S. Department of Energy estimated that data centers used about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could rise to roughly 6.7% to 12% by 2028. At this point, geography also matters. Data center demand doesn’t rise evenly across the country. It drops into specific counties and utility territories and can outpace local transmission and substation capacity well before national averages move.

Berkeley Lab has documented the other side of the squeeze. The lab found that interconnection timelines often run beyond four years, with a median of five years for projects built in 2023. In operational terms, even when developers line up new generation, the grid can take half a decade to turn it into deliverable power.

IIR uses project-level tracking to show how markets are responding in real time. The need to support data center electricity provision is leading to a growing focus on utilizing gas-fired generation. Currently, IIR is tracking more than $281 billion in U.S. natural-gas power generation projects. This total includes $20.3 billion in active capital investment on construction sites and $31.7 billion in projects currently in the advanced engineering phase. The big challenge, however, is that there is a global supply shortage of gas turbines, with lead times now extended by anywhere between five and seven years.

In the same window, IIR identified over 3,500 currently active Data Center projects under proposal or development in the U.S., worth some $2.4 trillion. Texas accounts for $517 billion of this, followed by Virginia with $344 billion. Current IIR data shows U.S. data center electric demand is on track to grow from just 23 gigawatts in 2023 to 90 gigawatts by 2030. United States data centers could triple and consume up to 12% of the country’s total electricity by 2028.

Therefore, access to power provision has become the number one site selection criterion. Renewables will meet about 50% of this, with gas-fired power expected to meet much of the rest, although developers are seeking other ways to meet electricity demand with other sources, such as Small Modular Reactors. These metrics highlight a direct collision between surging demand and a supply chain still navigating equipment lead times and grid interconnection delays.

The same project lens shows why most headlines about spending and exports can be misleading. When companies tighten capital expenditure—the money a company spends to buy, improve, or maintain long-term physical assets—project inventories typically stretch and resequence. In Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), IIR Energy tied month-to-month feed gas declines to maintenance, while its reporting on Lake Charles LNG underscored how a project can secure approvals and still never reach construction.

Value to the Ecosystem

Utilities and independent power producers use project intelligence as an early-warning system for grid stress because it shows where load is coming in before the hardware is ready. ERCOT’s disclosure of 205 gigawatts in large-load requests, most tied to data centers, gave planners a map of where the next pinch points are likely to form. It signals which transmission corridors may need upgrades, which substations could become the binding constraint, and where interconnection studies will stack up.

Developers and investors use the same project lens to separate what is approved on paper from what is likely to get built on schedule. In Colombia, IIR reported that Oleoducto Bicentenario de Colombia pushed back phases of a 1,000-kilometer crude oil pipeline after environmental permitting took longer than expected. For decision-makers, that delay can negatively impact the throughput timelines, construction sequencing, contractor availability, and the financing calendar.

Now, manufacturers use project intelligence to see what is coming into a region before it shows up in hiring data or supplier backlogs. In Indiana, IIR’s snapshot pulled more than $39 billion in projects under construction into a single pipeline, from an Eli Lilly campus expansion to EV battery plants and large data center campuses. For operators, that kind of project inventory helps point to where multiple megaprojects will compete for the same electricians and pipefitters, where permitting workloads will spike, and where shared dependencies like transformers, switchgear, and specialty components are most likely to become the gating items.

Future Outlook

IIR’s clearest signals sit where AI electrification meets slow infrastructure. Large-load queues, turbine orders, and shifting project milestones are already forcing strategy teams to plan around execution risk.

Lewis has argued that verified project intelligence reduces reactive decision-making. With that, the goal is to have a clear view of what is real, what is late, and what is at risk before any capital is committed.