Investors are scrambling to build transmission infrastructure to meet surging power demand from data centers and accommodate a vast array of clean power projects waiting in grid connection queues.
Demand for clean power hiked on the back of falling costs, federal tax credits, and ambitious renewable energy targets, leading to over 2.5 TW of solar, wind and storage projects in U.S. grid connection queues at the end of 2023.
On top of this, forecast demand from data centers has soared as tech groups chase growing AI capacity, putting further pressure on grid capacity. Demand from data centers is forecast to double within five years, rising from 176 TWh in 2023 to between 325 and 580 TWh in 2028, government data shows. U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase by 3% annually for the rest of the decade – a rate of growth not seen since the 1990s.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.