and Tony Seba for years. That has led some to question whether there would be enough electricity available to actually power everything, but the conventional wisdom is that the newest electric devices — especially heat pumps, LED lighting, and induction stoves — are so efficient that they will not require extensive and expensive upgrades to the electrical grid or major new sources of electricity in order to keep up with demand.
The use of artificial intelligence has increased dramatically in the past two years, consuming vast amounts of electricity.reports that in Georgia, industrial demand for electricity is surging to record highs. “When you look at the numbers, it is staggering,” said Jason Shaw, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission. “It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation.
Utility projections for the amount of power they will need over the next five years have nearly doubled and are expected to grow, according to a review of regulatory filings by the research firmIt warns that “there are real risks some regions may miss out on economic development opportunities because the grid can’t keep up.”The 2,700 data centers in the US used more than 4% of the nation’s s total electricity in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
The proliferation of crypto mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth and putting new pressures on an overburdened grid. Bottlenecks are mounting, leaving both new generators of energy, particularly clean energy, and large consumers facing growing wait times for hookups.
Planners are increasingly concerned that the grid won’t be green enough or powerful enough to meet future demands. Already, soaring power consumption is delaying coal plant closures in Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Carolina. “These problems are not going to go away,” said Michael Ortiz, CEO of Layer 9 Data Centers, a US company that is looking to avoid the logjam in America by building in Mexico.
Officials in Maryland are opposing a $5.2 billion plan that would send electricity to huge data centers in Virginia. The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, a government agency that advocates for ratepayers, called grid operator PJM’s plan “fundamentally unfair,” arguing it could leave Maryland utility customers paying for power transmission to data centers that Virginia aggressively courted and is leveraging for a windfall in tax revenue.
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