The Growing Power Needs of the US

Electricity demand in the U.S. is accelerating at a pace the country is struggling to match. Forecasts suggest that the nation could use 50% more power in the next 25 years to support the industrial, commercial, residential, and transportation sectors, but that will mean the nation will need to produce a minimum of 5,200 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity within the next quarter century to satisfy the nation’s power needs. 

The growing use of electricity can be traced to the electrification of the country, including the growing use of AI. Each AI server requires about eight watt-hours (Wh) of energy to run while also being costly to keep cool. If the U.S. fails to keep up with the energy demand, there could be severe consequences that negatively affect transportation to communication as well as transactions across the country. Unfortunately, several inefficiencies cause the current power grid to lose at least 5% of its electricity each year. 

One of the best options that can help the country gain more power is upgrading the power infrastructure we have now, but the transmission lines, substations, and power transformers that are in use are all between 40 and 70 years old with some approaching end of life. 

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 fewer power outages and better energy costs.

Source: ELSCO