AI power consumption expected to skyrocket over next decade

Malik, Naureen S.

Tribune News Service via Bloomberg News

The AI boom is expected to increase the demand for electricity on the main U.S. grid at a rate that would need the installation of two New England networks in the next ten years.

Peak summer demand is expected to increase by over 58 gigawatts, or 38%, to roughly 210 gigawatts in 2035 from last year’s high, according to a report released Friday by PJM Interconnection LLC, which oversees the 13-state system that runs from Washington, DC, to Illinois. The New England grid’s peak demand record is more than doubled by that addition.

With the proliferation and expansion of data centers required to run artificial intelligence, power consumption in PJM and the U.S. in general is predicted to increase at an unprecedented rate. The energy consumption of individual planned installations would be sufficient to power large cities.

Although President Donald Trump and the Biden Administration have both stated that AI must be used for both economic and national security reasons, the enormous increase in anticipated power demand is likely to put a strain on the nation’s aging electric infrastructure and supply.

Trump stated at Davos this week that in order to avoid the delays and reliability problems that come with connecting to an increasingly overburdened grid, power plants must be constructed alongside data centers.