Many believe that the power demand in the U.S. will rise significantly within the next 25 years, but is the country’s power grid able to handle it? The majority of our energy consumption is distributed across several major sectors, including transportation and industrial. In order to power every aspect of our lives, the nation will need to generate more than 5,178 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity within the next quarter century.
We have been using more power in recent years due to the electrification of the US, from electric cars to AI. In fact, a single AI server needs up to 30 times more energy compared to a regular internet search. AI servers also require energy to keep them cool, causing global data centers to add on 50% more to the energy cost to keep the technology running.
Without the proper amount of energy production, public transportation, communication lines, supply chains, and banking systems will not function as they do now. One of the best ways to gain more power is to fix the current power infrastructure, but that does not come easy since the transmission lines, substations, and power transformers involved are too old and are nearing the end of their lives. The size of the infrastructure itself covers miles and the equipment costs as well as the replacement costs could add up to trillions of dollars.
Nonetheless, we can still meet future power needs by considering outside power sources, speeding up the authorization of power-related projects, and creating a more streamlined buying process. With an improved power infrastructure, the country can worry less about power-related issues and possibly benefit from better energy costs as well as clean energy.
Sourcing new equipment is a struggle due to the system’s size, rising prices, long lead times, and interconnection queues. Nonetheless, there are still ways to increase the country’s power output, such as investigating other sources of power and reducing long lead times. If more focus is put into creating a better power infrastructure, the nation will benefit from more power as well as better energy pricing.
Source: ELSCO