AI-Driven Power Boom Will Drive Demand 38% Higher On Top US Grid

Electricity demand on the largest US grid is poised to rise so fast thanks to the AI boom that it’ll be the equivalent of installing two New England networks in the coming decade.

PJM Interconnection LLC, which manages the 13-state system stretching from Washington DC to Illinois, expects peak summer demand to jump by nearly 58 gigawatts, or 38%, to about 210 gigawatts in 2035 from last year’s high, according to a report Friday. That addition is more than double the peak demand record on the New England grid.

Power usage in PJM and the US more broadly is expected to climb at an unprecedented clip as data centers used to run artificial intelligence proliferate and become much larger. Individual facilities planned would guzzle enough energy to power entire cities. 

While both the Biden Administration and now President Donald Trump have declared the need to deploy AI for national security and economic interests, the massive surge in expected power demand will likely strain aging US electric infrastructure and supplies. 

At Davos this week, Trump said power plants need to be built alongside data centers to bypass delays and reliability issues posed by connecting to an increasingly stressed grid.