Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power

[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]

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

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. 

[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.

[libertybele]

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.

Welcome to The Briefing Room @banddag   

Countries are investing here or are they buying up U.S. companies (what is left of them)??  Not many are holding our treasuries which has weakened our economy -- foreign investors are here to get a foothold in our country. I'm not seeing that scenario as necessarily a good thing.

I'm not sure I agree with you on our economy; for one, BRIC's -- that allegiance has weakened our economy and there is talk of China accumulating gold and trying to convince others (I believe Saudi Arabia is now involved) to go back to the gold standard.  That would crush the U.S. economy and devalue if not eliminate the U.S. dollar.

I couldn't find current stats on how much gold the U.S. holds vs China.

[Bigun]

Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power

We are doing no such thing!  We could easily have plentiful and cheap energy if the PTB would allow it.

[libertybele]

We are doing no such thing!  We could easily have plentiful and cheap energy if the PTB would allow it.

There's that, and there's also no denying that we have an 'aging' power grid.

[Bigun]

There's that, and there's also no denying that we have an 'aging' power grid.

How much $$$ has been thrown to the wind fooling around with fool's errands that could have gone toward fixing that!

[LMAO]

 
 Not many are holding our treasuries which has weakened our economy -

You sure?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/foreign-holdings-us-treasuries-surge-all-time-high-december-data-2024-02-15/


Despite the gloom and doom, the US economy is actually doing fairly well and surviving the bumbling and stumbling of Biden and his cabinet

[libertybele]

How much $$$ has been thrown to the wind fooling around with fool's errands that could have gone toward fixing that!

Exactly.

[libertybele]

You sure?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/foreign-holdings-us-treasuries-surge-all-time-high-december-data-2024-02-15/


Despite the gloom and doom, the US economy is actually doing fairly well and surviving the bumbling and stumbling of Biden and his cabinet

I stand corrected. Thank you for posting that -- you just gave me a slight glimmer of hope.   

[LMAO]

The biggest long term threat to the US economy is the debt to gdp ratio of over 100% and rising with no end in sight. Then the unwillingness to tackle the SS and Medicare funding issue because, according to some, that will just upset the Democrats

[banddag]

Welcome to The Briefing Room @banddag   



I'm not sure I agree with you on our economy; for one, BRIC's -- that allegiance has weakened our economy and there is talk of China accumulating gold and trying to convince others (I believe Saudi Arabia is now involved) to go back to the gold standard.  That would crush the U.S. economy and devalue if not eliminate the U.S. dollar.

Thank you.
Not sure if I would want to invest BRIC Currency. China and Russia economies are imploding and they are reverting back to authoritarian police states.

My cousin works for a US company that makes industrial chemical sniffers and they moved to China back in the early 2000's. We almost got in a fistfight over it when I called him a free traitor.
Saw him at a family reunion last summer. Boy, has he changed. None of the US employees  want to go back to China because they think they could possibly be detained or jailed. He said it is only a matter of time their company is nationalized.  True story.

[banddag]

Despite the gloom and doom, the US economy is actually doing fairly well and surviving the bumbling and stumbling of Biden and his cabinet

I live in a moderate part of the US. Local economy not booming or nor crashing. Just plugging along. We want to build a carriage barn. We narrowed it down to 2 builders.  The earliest either of them can start is fall of 2026.

The economy is not that bad. The people who are hurting are retirees and employees with no education of job skills. We have billboards everywhere offering sign on bonus but they are all in  healthcare and the skilled trades.

[Bigun]

Thank you.
Not sure if I would want to invest BRIC Currency. China and Russia economies are imploding and they are reverting back to authoritarian police states.

My cousin works for a US company that makes industrial chemical sniffers and they moved to China back in the early 2000's. We almost got in a fistfight over it when I called him a free traitor.
Saw him at a family reunion last summer. Boy, has he changed. None of the US employees  want to go back to China because they think they could possibly be detained or jailed. He said it is only a matter of time their company is nationalized.  True story.

My youngest son is fluent in several dialects of Chinese. Some years ago, while he was in college, he did an internship with a major U. S. tech company in Bejing for two summers. To say that was a VERY eye-opening experience for him would be a gross understatement.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

You sure?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/foreign-holdings-us-treasuries-surge-all-time-high-december-data-2024-02-15/


Despite the gloom and doom, the US economy is actually doing fairly well and surviving the bumbling and stumbling of Biden and his cabinet

What's hurting Biden is people realizing how much cheaper everthing was in 2020 and earlier.

[LMAO]

What's hurting Biden is people realizing how much cheaper everthing was in 2020 and earlier.

That, and the border

Unfortunately, neither candidate is serious about the inflation issue

[Free Vulcan]

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. 

They've already implemented demand spike charges here in Iowa if your household uses too much power at any given moment during the month.

[libertybele]

What's hurting Biden is people realizing how much cheaper everthing was in 2020 and earlier.

Of course people have realized that their wallets our shrinking. Our buying power is significantly less than when Trump took office.  Prices haven't gone down, some items that I used to buy are still no longer available and gas prices around here are now hovering around $3.75/gal.

There is no border security, mobs are still gathering, squatters are now a problem and the invasion is spreading into the smaller cities.

[libertybele]

They've already implemented demand spike charges here in Iowa if your household uses too much power at any given moment during the month.

   Not good.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I'm sorry, they call it "loadshedding" in South Africa, where they have scheduled blackouts. I wonder if we'll get them here?

[unite for individuality]

https://www.reuters.com/markets/foreign-holdings-us-treasuries-surge-all-time-high-december-data-2024-02-15/

Despite the gloom and doom, the US economy is actually doing fairly well and surviving the bumbling and stumbling of Biden and his cabinet

It's not as if the USA was being managed in a survivable manner.

It's that the rest of the world is being managed even more atrociously!

[LMAO]

It's not as if the USA was being managed in a survivable manner.

It's that the rest of the world is being managed even more atrociously!

Yup

I’ve heard our current situation being described as the “tallest midget in the room”