Israel's Electricity Authority has suspended the processing of new data center connection requests for 140 days following a surge in applications totaling 27,000 megawatts - roughly three times the nation's typical electricity consumption.
The Authority attributed the pause to a need for reviewing the exceptional volume of demand and preventing outright project rejections. "Because of the extreme development in the scope of applications for connection to server farms... the Electricity Authority is announcing a halt to responses and processing of applications for connecting server farms for 140 days," The Authority stated.
The suspension occurs as Israel works to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure, while simultaneously grappling with questions about the electrical grid's capacity to support such expansion.