Webinar Series: Navigating the Data Center Boom: Rethinking Contracts, Risk, and Regulatory Strategy for 2026 and Beyond

As AI continues to drive unprecedented demand for data center capacity, developers, owners, operators, and capital providers must revisit their project delivery, contracting, permitting, and stakeholder strategies. Traditional risk allocation and deal structures are antiquating under energy constraints, interconnection delays, supply chain pressure, and evolving federal and state regulatory frameworks around air, water, and large load power usage.

This three part webinar series brings together Troutman Pepper Locke construction, energy, environmental, and real estate attorneys to explore how these dynamics are reshaping the data center landscape in 2026 and beyond. Each session will provide practical perspectives on how market participants are reallocating risk, structuring contracts, and positioning projects to remain bankable and scalable in a rapidly changing environment.

CLE credit will be available.

Session 1 – Rewriting the Rules: 2026 Data Center Contracting & Risk Allocation for AI-Driven Facilities

Tuesday, March 31 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom

Click here to register.

Speakers: Jason Spang, Vaughn Morrison, Carl Bivens, Brandon Lobb
Moderator: Jamey Collidge

As AI-driven workloads push data centers to unprecedented levels of scale and power intensity, traditional construction and real estate risk allocation are being rewritten. Join us for a practical, cross-disciplinary discussion of how operators, contractors, and power providers are reshaping contracts for data center projects — from interconnection and schedule risk to supply chain pressure and innovative, behind-the-meter power solutions.

Key Topics:

• Power and Grid Risk: How contracts address interconnection delays, power constraints, and “grid risk” across the project stack.
• Supply Chain and Price Volatility: Tools to manage long-lead equipment, early procurement, tariff developments, and pricing swings while preserving budget certainty.
• Standards, Compliance, and Liability: Balancing schedule pressure with equipment standards, code compliance, and risk allocation.
• Construction in Live Facilities: Approaches to outage planning, uptime exposure, and SLAs when building in operating data centers.
• Hybrid and Behind-the-Meter Power: Contracting for campus, modular, and alternative power solutions while managing interface and performance risk.

Session 2 – Permitting and Regulatory Challenges and Uncertainty

Tuesday, April 21 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom

Registration details coming soon.
Click here to add Session 2 to your calendar.

Speakers: Mack McGuffey, Melissa Horne, Carl Bivens, Casey Bell
Moderator: Jamey Collidge

Driven by the rapid expansion of AI and other digital infrastructure, data centers are facing heightened regulatory scrutiny over energy use, emissions, and community effects. This webinar will explore the latest environmental and infrastructure considerations that influence project timelines, siting decisions, and risk allocation in high‑growth markets, including how emerging regulatory frameworks may influence permitting strategies and utility relationships.

Key Topics:

• Major vs. Minor Permits: Understanding the differences between major and minor air permits, and how those classifications affect project timelines, costs, and flexibility.
• Temporary Power Options – Turbines vs. Engines: Comparing turbines and reciprocating engines for temporary power, including efficiency, emissions, permitting implications, and deployment speed.
• Managing Curtailment and Outages: Strategies to address curtailment and power outages, and how these risks influence project design, contracting, and operational planning.
• Air Quality and Site Selection: How existing local air quality and attainment status should factor into siting decisions, permitting risk, and long-term expansion potential.
• Air Dispersion Modeling Demystified: What air dispersion modeling is, when it is required, and why its assumptions and results are critical to permitting outcomes and project design.
• Air Permit Challenges and Project Risk: The likelihood and mechanics of air permit challenges, and how appeals, public comments, and litigation can impact project schedules and stakeholder engagement.

Session 3 – The Owner’s Playbook: Navigating Power, Policy, and Performance in Data Center Development

Thursday, May 14 | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET | Zoom

Registration details coming soon.
Click here to add Session 3 to your calendar.

Speakers: Jason Spang, Matt Dials
Moderator: Jamey Collidge

In a market defined by power constraints, regulatory flux, and rapid technological change, data center owners, operators, and capital providers are rethinking how they structure, finance, and deliver projects. Join us for a candid, owner-focused discussion on how to preserve bankability, manage evolving risks, and negotiate smarter contracts for the next wave of data center development.

Key Topics:

• Bankability Under Pressure: How owners and investors are underwriting data center projects amid power, interconnection, and permitting uncertainty — and what still counts as “bankable.”
• Permits, Policy, and Change-in-Law Risk: Practical ways to address permitting delays, new environmental conditions, and change-in-law risk in long-term deals.
• Coordinating Construction, Procurement, and Capital: Aligning early equipment purchases, modular delivery, and nontraditional payment profiles with lender expectations.
• Performance Guarantees and Owner-Side Outage Risk: Flowing down lease requirements, defining commissioning and acceptance, and capturing owner/tenant needs in construction contracts.
•  Portfolio and Site Strategy for the Next Wave of Data Centers: How owners are selecting markets, managing jurisdictional and regulatory differences, planning for future upgrades, and accounting for community impacts and labor availability.
• Deal Table Pinch Points: Where owners/developers and contractors most often clash on risk allocation — and approaches to closing the gap.