Tech companies are planning a wave of new data centers to support artificial intelligence and looking to buy emissions-free electricity directly from nuclear power reactors — potentially driving up utility bills for power customers and undermining the reliability of the nation’s power system.
The spread of power-guzzling data centers is a big reason behind forecasts showing U.S. electricity consumption will surge in the coming years after more than a decade of virtually no growth. That has sent power companies scrambling to secure new electricity production capacity even as they battle severe weather, wildfires and sharp swings in seasonal demand that pose rising risks to the stability of the grid.
Experts warn that if deep-pocketed tech companies — many of which have aggressive net-zero carbon goals — buy up carbon-free electricity from large nuclear baseload power plants and take that power off the grid too quickly, they will exacerbate the reliability risks now facing the broader network.
“If you put a lot of big energy users behind power plants and take them offline, that has very significant issues for the grid,” said Joseph Bowring, the independent market monitor for the PJM Interconnection, the nation’s biggest power market, which includes 14 nuclear power plants.
