Axios Live: Arizona is booming. Its power grid is sweating.

PHOENIX — Arizona's power grid took more than 100 years to build. Now the state needs to double it in just four to five years, leaders said at an Axios Live event.

The big picture: Data centers, new residents and factories are pouring into Arizona — and the electric grid is struggling to keep up.

• "What took our utilities 100-plus years to build, need[s] to double that within the next four to five years," said Kevin Thompson, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which oversees the state's utilities.
• Axios' Jessica Boehm, Jeremy Duda and Amy Harder moderated discussions with Thompson; Maren Mahoney, director of the Arizona Governor's Office of Resiliency; and Danny Seiden, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The June 16 event was sponsored by Shell.

By the numbers: Arizona's biggest utility, APS, runs about 8.3 gigawatts of power — enough to keep millions of homes and businesses running. But companies are already asking for nearly 17 gigawatts of new power. The other major utilities face the same problem, Thompson said.

• The rule Thompson's commission has set: Companies that need the power have to pay for it. Regular households won't foot the bill.
• Big tech companies are playing along, Thompson said. One deal in Tucson even required the company to post a $25 million guarantee in case the project fell through.

Between the lines: Data centers that were once seen as power and water guzzlers are now helping pay for the infrastructure they need.

• This is seen as a key factor in offsetting costs for everyday customers.

Yes, but: This growth is changing how and when Arizonans use electricity.

• More people are charging electric cars at night, which is pushing the state's busiest power hours later into the evening.
• Also, data centers that use less water end up using more electricity instead.

Context: Foreign investors used to ask Arizona, "Do you have the talent?" Seiden said. "Now it's energy" — and right behind it, water.

• Arizona's electrical grid is reliable, its water management is among the best in the country and Arizona State University is home to one of the nation's largest engineering programs, Seiden said. The ASU programs feed companies like TSMC, which is putting $165 billion into Arizona chip factories.
• To keep residents informed, the chamber is urging companies planning new data centers to hold community meetings before breaking ground, citing Intel in Chandler as the model.

The bottom line: Arizona has a strong case for why companies should establish data centers there, the panelists agreed. Whether it can build the power, water and trust to back it up is the real test.

• Mahoney said companies are looking for "fast power," which Arizona can provide if it can expand and "build out" the grid.

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View from the Top conversation, Shell's Mobility Americas senior vice president Barbara Stoyko talked about the company's push to build EV charging hubs across the country.

• "I thought permitting a gas station was hard. It turns out EV stations are even harder," she said — mostly because a single hub can pull as much electricity as 1,200 homes.
• In Houston, the surprise has been who's pulling up to charge: "Our No. 1 customer is Waymo," Stoyko said. "Who thought that we would be actually servicing a customer that's not even human?"