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Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power

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libertybele:
Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said the revised forecast for power needs in Georgia showed power use in the state increasing 17 times. New demand, not total demand, is projected to increase 17 times. The article also misspelled the name of the agency that advocates for Maryland ratepayers. It is the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel. The article has been corrected.

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Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.

In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.

Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.

The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants.

“When you look at the numbers, it is staggering,” said Jason Shaw, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates electricity. “It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation. How were the projections that far off? This has created a challenge like we have never seen before.”

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. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt.

The proliferation of crypto-mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth. It is all putting new pressures on an overtaxed grid - the network of transmission lines and power stations that move electricity around the country. Bottlenecks are mounting, leaving both new generators of energy, particularly clean energy, and large consumers facing growing wait times for hookups........

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/amid-explosive-demand-america-running-152219813.html

rustynail:
We may soon be told 24-7 residential electricity is a privilege not a right.

Weird Tolkienish Figure:
They have an official name for power rationing in South Africa, forget what it is.

libertybele:

--- Quote from: rustynail on April 06, 2024, 10:37:17 pm ---We may soon be told 24-7 residential electricity is a privilege not a right.

--- End quote ---

You will only be allowed so much electricity per household and if you go over that amount, you will have to pay a fee -- but if you would have just listened to the government and gone solar -- you wouldn't be having to pay the extra costs.  :whistle:

banddag:
It will be a challenge but we will work it out. Every country in the world is investing here now. The money invested from foreign countries in 2023 in the US is the greatest in our countries history. All of the top 10 private space programs are now based in the US. Why is that?

The US is coming back as the top research and tech center of the world. After a many year decline, health care inventions  are now almost all from the US or at least moving in that direction.. Our economy and invention prowess and freedoms are greater than any President or party.

Would you invest in China or Russia? India's bureaucracy is mind staggering and the country's economy is based upon red tape and bribes. Europe is being defeated by a negative birth rate, Italy is selling homes to foreigners for $1 just to get warm bodies in. 11 million empty homes in Japan-more than the entire country of Australia. Also selling for a $1
We have current problems but the pendulum always swings back.

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