Power Weekly: Power Is the Product, Plus Avantus and the Permitting Bill

• Equinix posted record bookings, up 35% year over year, with new-deal pricing up 12%, and its CEO said capacity can't keep up with demand.
• Power-ready sites are the scarcest asset: land with a path to power is the product, and the building is the packaging.
• Avantus upsized its corporate credit facility to $1.28 billion with five new lenders to back a 24 GW solar and storage pipeline.
• Lenders are backing solar-plus-storage development without waiting for more clarity from Washington.
• Without permitting reform, expect many expensive, well-designed projects to slip into the late 2020s and early 2030s.

Stuart Pomeroy
Account Executive, Paces

Why are power-ready sites the scarcest asset for data centers?

Demand for data center capacity is outpacing supply. Equinix's CEO said there isn't enough capacity to meet demand, and pricing on its new deals rose 12%. That makes land with a power contract, access to power or a clear path to power the real product, with the building as the packaging around it.

What did Equinix report in Q3 2026?

Equinix reported record annualized gross bookings of $533 million, up 35% year over year, with pricing on new deals up 12%. It raised its full-year 2026 guidance for the third consecutive quarter.

What is Avantus's new credit facility?

Solar and storage developer Avantus increased its corporate credit facility to $1.28 billion in November 2026, adding five new lead arrangers. It builds on the $1.05 billion facility Avantus closed in August 2026 and supports a 24 GW development pipeline across California and the Desert Southwest.

Are lenders still financing solar and storage?

Yes. Avantus's facility drew a large bank syndicate, a sign that lenders still have confidence in solar-plus-storage development and delivery even amid policy uncertainty in Washington.

What is the bipartisan permitting bill?

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, sponsored by Senators Lee, Capito, Heinrich and Whitehouse, aims to speed federal approvals for energy and infrastructure projects. A procedural vote in the Senate was scheduled for November 9, 2026. Without permitting clarity, many projects risk being pushed into the late 2020s and early 2030s.

Hey. What's up, everyone? I'm Stu, and welcome to another episode of Power Weekly, where we highlight the most important industry news and share our take on why it matters, so you can stay in the know on the go.

I had a great trip to Infocast around Washington, D.C., last week and then DCD this week. No shortage of high-value events, happenings, conferences, etcetera. If you're in New York City today, Dervos is happening. That makes it hard to pick what I want to talk about, so I always have to be thoughtful about that. Anyway, let's go ahead and dive in.

First up, from the data center world: Equinix posted record bookings, up 35%, and it also raised its guidance to the Street. The CEO said that there isn't enough capacity to meet demand and that pricing on new deals that Equinix is seeing and doing is up 12%. So what does that mean? One of the conclusions is that power-ready sites are now the scarcest asset in the business. And that matters because in this market, land alone isn't enough. Land with a power contract, or access to power, or a path to power, however you want to phrase it, is the product. And you could argue that the building, or the shell, is just the bow on the package. It's the packaging that the land and the power come inside. So I'm keen to see how that continues evolving. I'm also seeing a lot of premium land positions with a likelihood of power being considered as well, so I'm keen to see how that continues evolving.

Next up, from the energy world: Avantus upsized its corporate credit facility to $1.2 billion this week and added five new lenders. This comes just a few months after closing a roughly $1.05 billion facility earlier this summer. All that capital is intended to back the delivery and continued development of about 24 gigawatts of solar and storage, which is incredible. So amid all the gas headlines that you're seeing in the market, tons of banks (I think there were 15 or 16 syndicated in each of these facilities) are lining up to back additional early-stage development and then delivery of solar plus storage, which is great.

We're seeing a bunch of stuff happening in Washington about permitting, about tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, and about how renewables fit into this whole thing. People often vote with their wallets: what they spend and what they don't buy. And you can see in this Avantus deal that there's continued confidence in development pipelines and in delivery of solar plus storage. The syndicated banks in this transaction with Avantus are not really waiting for additional clarity or additional permission from Washington, or from the permitting bill, or whatever. They're just saying, "Hey, we believe in this asset class. We believe in the Avantus team. We're going to continue giving them a bunch of resources to go deliver and pursue this strategy." So that's awesome, and I'd love to see additional commitment to the renewables delivery space. I'm keen to see if there are any other announcements like this before the end of the year.

Lastly, from the utility and policy world: the Senate is planning a vote on Monday on the bipartisan permitting bill, which everybody's been talking about, with all sorts of write-ups over the last couple of weeks. A couple of interesting sound bites: Senator Whitehouse called it a bird in hand, and Senator Heinrich said this is something we should move on quickly.

Why does all of that matter? We've been talking about the elections. We've been talking about demand growth, about how you can't permit anything, and about how GDP growth and AI leadership in America depend on the ability to deliver infrastructure. If the permitting bill doesn't give the industry additional clarity and confidence, and hopefully it passes sooner rather than later, although we don't want to pass something bad just for the sake of passing it soon, you end up with a bunch of very expensive, very good-looking project proposals that are deep in the late 2020s and early 2030s. And that's not really good for anybody.

So I'm going to keep watching what happens with the permitting bill through the end of this week and early next week. And with the election results, I'm not sure yet whether there's going to be an effort to get it through the current Congress, or whether they're going to wait until all the newly elected members come in, in which case it would be a Democratic-controlled Congress. So TBD, but lots of continued tracking on the permitting and policy front.

That's it for today. Drop us a comment or a DM. We always love to hear what you're seeing and tracking in the market. See you next week.