Many American leaders, including President Donald Trump, recognize that the United States must win the AI race with China and that powering new AI data centers will require a significant increase in power. Last month, the Electric Power Research Institute revised its estimates of data center energy use upward by 60% from just two years ago. Data center electricity consumption will double or triple by 2028, estimates the Department of Energy, constituting 7 to 12% of all US electricity.
Where solar produces power roughly 25% of the time, and wind 25 to 35%, often unpredictably, the US nuclear fleet operates for over 90% of the time. This is essential, notes analyst Madi Hilly with Radiant Energy Group, in a new podcast with Emmet Penney at the Foundation for American Innovation, because “data centers must remain online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of the season and regardless of market conditions.”
And yet many Democrats, progressives, and others on the Left are working to block data centers, as well as new nuclear. Anti-nuclear groups shut down Indian Point nuclear plant north of New York City and are now resisting its rebuild, notes Hilly. Senator Bernie Sanders, who helped shut down a critically important Vermont nuclear plant, has called for a national moratorium on data center construction. Democrats in Prince George’s County in Maryland paused all data center development amid intense local opposition. As a result, a new analysis estimates that 30 to 50% of data center capacity expected today may not arrive on schedule.
