Utilities are seeking to acquire private land for transmission lines needed for AI data centers, creating disputes that raise legal questions about whether infrastructure built primarily to support private tech companies satisfies the constitutional standard of serving a public purpose.
When negotiations with landowners fail, utilities can turn to eminent domain, which allows governments or authorized utilities to acquire property while compensating owners. The legal authority is rooted in the Fifth Amendment, which permits property to be taken for public use with just compensation.
In many states, utility companies are authorized to exercise that power as common carriers, although individual states apply different legal standards governing when eminent domain may be used.
As AI workloads become more compute-intensive, utilities are under pressure to expand transmission capacity. To accommodate the increased demand, power companies are proposing new high-voltage transmission lines that often cross privately owned farmland and residential properties.
The central legal dispute is whether transmission infrastructure built largely to support AI data centers qualifies as serving a public use. While the US Supreme Court has historically interpreted public use broadly, particularly following its 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, many states subsequently strengthened their own eminent domain protections.
Courts in states including Michigan, Ohio and Oklahoma have adopted narrower interpretations that place greater limits on transferring private property for projects benefiting private development.
Disputes in Georgia
Georgia has become one of the highest-profile examples. Georgia Power has proposed a transmission project that would primarily support increasing electricity demand associated with data centers. The utility estimates that roughly 70 to 80 percent of the electricity carried by the new line would serve data center operations, while the remaining capacity would support residential and commercial growth.
The project requires acquiring more than 300 parcels of land. The company says eminent domain is used only after negotiations fail and represents less than one percent of its land acquisitions. The project continues to face opposition from residents who argue the transmission line primarily benefits private data centers.
Similar disputes are unfolding elsewhere. In Virginia, homeowners have challenged transmission projects associated with Northern Virginia’s dense concentration of hyperscale data centers. Pennsylvania farmers are opposing new transmission lines linked to a planned data center complex, arguing the infrastructure primarily benefits a single customer rather than the broader electric grid. Maryland landowners have also objected to a proposed 67-mile transmission project, while consumer advocates in Indiana have raised comparable concerns over future utility projects.
The AI data center expansion shows no sign of slowing. Industry opposition has delayed or halted dozens of planned projects, yet major tech companies continue expanding their footprints. Meta recently announced plans to increase the capacity of its Hyperion AI supercluster from two gigawatts to five gigawatts, demonstrating the scale of electrical infrastructure that future AI development will require.
As utilities, tech companies and property owners dispute property rights, courts will likely play a larger role in defining where public infrastructure ends and private commercial benefit begins.
