Data Center Boom Sparks Utility Spending—But How Real Is the Demand?

There is no doubt that AI advancements and data centers will be sucking up more electricity in the coming years, and power demand in the United States will grow after a decade of stagnation. What’s in doubt is how much additional power-generating capacity the AI boom will need and how electric utilities will navigate through the complex supply-demand balances in various regions.

U.S. power utilities have announced billions of U.S. dollars in capital plans for the next few years and are getting a lot of requests from Big Tech for new power…