WASHINGTON POST • March 7, 2024
Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. 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. The proliferation of crypto mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth. It threatens to stifle the transition to cleaner energy, as utility executives lobby to delay the retirement of fossil fuel plants and bring more online.