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Main article: US economy
Generation sources
2023: Gas is the largest source of power generation
The boom in data centers for AI has led to a revival of gas power in the United States. New gas-fired power plants continue to emerge, belying expectations that their booming growth is near its end.
The largest power plants
Nuclear Power Industry
Main article: US Nuclear Power Plants
Solar Power
Main article: Solar power in the United States
History
2024: The US has changed its mind about closing coal-fired power plants because of AI. Data centers lack electricity
In mid-June 2024, it became known that the US government was abandoning plans to close coal-fired power plants due to AI, as data centers lack electricity to maintain energy-intensive artificial intelligence models.
According to The Financial Times, large coal producers, including AlliantEnergy, have already shifted their plans to close coal mines for at least several years. Electric utility FirstEnergy has also completely abandoned plans to reduce the use of non-renewable energy sources for 2030 due to increased demand.
AI is an incredibly energy-consuming resource - one request ChatGPT uses about ten times more electricity than a standard search. Google Consulting Grid Strategies, a firm, forecast a 4.7% nationwide increase in electricity demand over the next five years, with those projected figures double the previous year's figures. Although these figures also mining cryptocurrencies take cloud computing into account, AI is considered the main consumer of electricity, which will affect the growth of demand in this segment.
In 2022, coal was the source of 36% of all global energy, according to the World Resources Institute. To stop global warming, the world needs to reduce this figure to 4% by 2030, but, apparently, the United States is ready to neglect these goals in the race for primacy in the international AI sphere. Shifting targets to renewable energy was a meaningful victory for the coal industry and a major blow to global climate initiatives that see reducing coal use as an important and urgent goal to protect the planet.[1]
2023
Electricity consumption by data centers in the United States soared 80% to 130 TVt·ch.
In the United States, from 2018 to 2023, electricity consumption by data centers (data centers) rose by almost 80% - from 73 to 130 TVt·ch. For the foreseeable future, the indicator will continue to grow, as evidenced by data from Rystad Energy, which TAdviser got acquainted with in mid-September 2024.
The last time the United States experienced a sharp increase in electricity demand until the early 2000s due to economic development, an increase in population and the active use of new electrical appliances such as air conditioners, computers and lighting equipment. Then an increase in demand for electricity was recorded up to 30%. However, this was followed by a decline in consumption growth, primarily due to innovation and the introduction of measures to improve energy efficiency, as well as due to economic obstacles and a decline in domestic production.
Since 2018, the growth in electricity demand from American data centers has been steadily growing. This is due to the active development of cloud services and the rapid introduction of artificial intelligence technologies, including generative ones. The resources of the world's largest hyperscalers are concentrated primarily in the United States, where the leading players in the cloud market are represented - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
The Electric Energy Research Institute (EPRI) predicts that data centers in the U.S. will consume up to 9% of all electricity generated in the country by 2030, up from 4% of the total load in 2023. Florida-based NextEra Energy, a major player in the renewable energy industry, said it had data centers in its pipeline of projects that would consume more than 3 GW, comparable to providing electricity to all homes in the state of Minnesota.[2]
Energy Price Reduction for Industrial Plants
2022: Surge in power and gas outages among consumers for non-payment due to rising prices
[1] Blackouts and natural gas soared in the U.S. in 2022 as the cost of electricity in homes skyrocketed and consumers struggled to pay their bills, a new study suggests.
In 2022, households cut off electricity more than 1.5 million times for non-payment of bills, which is 29% more than in the same period in 2021, and the number of gas outages increased by 76%.
The growth comes as American consumers already facing high inflation will pay an average of 14% more for electricity and 19% more for natural gas in 2023.
Notes
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