Amid the EV’s, AI and Bitcoins, Puff The Magical Thinking Dragon comes home to roost: America Is Running Out Of Power
Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.
In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.
Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.
This may be behind the WaPo paywall, so I’ve dropped more in the extended entry.
Related: Canada’s declining electricity abundance
The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants.
“When you look at the numbers, it is staggering,” said Jason Shaw, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates electricity. “It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation. How were the projections that far off? This has created a challenge like we have never seen before.”
A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is driving the construction of large warehouses of computing infrastructure that require exponentially more power than traditional data centers. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt.
The proliferation of crypto-mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth. It is all putting new pressures on an overtaxed grid — the network of transmission lines and power stations that move electricity around the country. Bottlenecks are mounting, leaving both new generators of energy, particularly clean energy, and large consumers facing growing wait times for hookups.
The situation is sparking battles across the nation over who will pay for new power supplies, with regulators worrying that residential ratepayers could be stuck with the bill for costly upgrades. It also threatens to stifle the transition to cleaner energy, as utility executives lobby to delay the retirement of fossil fuel plants and bring more online. The power crunch imperils their ability to supply the energy that will be needed to charge the millions of electric cars and household appliances required to meet state and federal climate goals.
The nation’s 2,700 data centers sapped more than 4 percent of the country’s total electricity in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. Its projections show that by 2026, they will consume 6 percent. Industry forecasts show the centers eating up a larger share of U.S. electricity in the years that follow, as demand from residential and smaller commercial facilities stays relatively flat thanks to steadily increasing efficiencies in appliances and heating and cooling systems.
Data center operators are clamoring to hook up to regional electricity grids at the same time the Biden administration’s industrial policy is luring companies to build factories in the United States at a pace not seen in decades. That includes manufacturers of “clean tech,” such as solar panels and electric car batteries, which are being enticed by lucrative federal incentives. Companies announced plans to build or expand more than 155 factories in this country during the first half of the Biden administration, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, an industry think tank. Not since the early 1990s has factory-building accounted for such a large share of U.S. construction spending, according to the group.
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 firm Grid Strategies. […]
“Across the board, we are seeing power companies say, ‘We don’t know if we can handle this; we have to audit our system; we’ve never dealt with this kind of influx before,’” said Andy Cvengros, managing director of data center markets at JLL. “Everyone is now chasing power. They are willing to look everywhere for it.”
h/t Steve from Rockwood
Could have also used the “Flaming Sparky Cars” meme, since they want to somehow have the infrastructure for those too. Maybe someone should just drive their Tesla into a data centre and burn it down to save electricity.
An excess of E Vs. Who the hell cares, the idiots won’t stop until they destroy everything.
EVs? No. the problem is the surge in data centres and crypto mining. That’s what’s eating up any excess power now.
Just immerse existing power lines in liquid helium, transmission problem solved. Stupid problems need stupid solutions.
Asteroid? No.
Please Just Send The Carrington Event
RNrn
Is this why my utility is insisting on installing a “smart meter” next week? So they can limit my access to electricity in order to supply the Thought Police NSA/FBI/Google with the energy capacity to data mine every single American’s keystrokes (thoughts). And if I don’t submit, they will charge me an extra $13 per month to keep the existing meter (which isn’t all that old).
I have a “smart meter”. It couldn’t connect to their system so they installed a booster. Every month I see the Milton Hydro guy at the pole where the meter is. So assume it still doesn’t work. It’s been like that for 3 years. I also have a Superior Propane smart meter that monitors the propane and calls for auto-refuels (if I want). Works like a charm, although they could lower the price of propane.
The $13 per month is nonsense. Almost half of your electric bill is service charges and taxes.
And if you absorb the $13/mo they’ll double it and continue to increase it until you cry ‘uncle’. These people always get their way.
Increase demand for the limited amount of electricity available with “green” stuff.
Blame GoreBull warming, or whatever it’s called now.
Ration electricity.
>The proliferation of crypto-mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth
Gell-Mann amnesia. All major cryptocurrencies switched to proof-of-stake rather than proof-of-work a couple of years ago. The era of crypto-mining drawing more power than weed farms is long over. And actual cloud data centers have never engaged in or allowed crypto-mining.
It’s all AI drawing power now, but the next generation of low-power AI-specific chipsets is already hitting the market.
Canada’s future features Liberal Party induced ongoing hunger and cold.
A little bit of Liberal hardship helps the bugs go down.
Hmmmm, protein.
And where do the lowly plebes fit in?
Data centers, AI, Big Biz, government will get their power first.
The minions will get rationed.
And it’ll be between 2 and 4.
a.m.
With nuclear and the dams on the rivers flowing north into Hudson Bay, Canada could supply a vast area of North America with electricity.
Never happen, too many NIMBYs. The Manitoba natives still moan about losing their fishing spots to dams. How hard is it to find another fishing spot???
its been projected that this bitcoin mining craze consumes enough power to run a small country. oh what to do what to do when the idyl rich ratchet up their wealth on paper. or in this case wealth on a hard drive.
part of which they spend on self contained reliable generators
not at all connected to the grid.
You can only play both ends against the middle for so long.. Come on, tell everybody their standard of living has to go way down so you can give monopolies to your friends.. Do it..
Easy fix, if you have a bold government. Hold a referendum on expanding the power supply with new coal and nuclear. With a proviso. Any regions, broken down by voting/electoral districts, that vote against expanded power, will have their ongoing power growth needs restricted. Simple. Vote against modernity, get what you vote for.
It seems to me that there could be an opportunity to marry up these hungry data centers with Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The data centers could be clustered together for efficiency and could operate independently of the public grid. They could even build more SMRs than they currently need and sell their surplus into the public grid, until they need it for their own expansions. This could take a huge load off the public grid and relieve some of the pressure to provide new grid transmission capacity and generating capacity.