Artificial intelligence is seeping into every corner of American life. Cryptocurrency mining is poised to grow. More people are buying electric cars. And heavy industry is returning to the U.S. — and embracing electrification.
Together, these shifts are creating a sustained spike in electricity demand that is expected to accelerate over the next four years, just in time for Donald Trump’s presidency.
For the first time since the 1980s, electricity demand is forecasted to grow significantly every year of the incoming president’s term. Unlike previous periods of growth in electricity demand in American history, there are no simple saviors like nuclear power or increasingly efficient appliances and lightbulbs waiting in the wings. The electric grid is old, strained and designed for a different era of electricity use.