President Trump has promised that the U.S. is open for business — and cheap abundant energy is a cornerstone of that promise. On his first day in office, Trump made good on his “Drill, Baby, Drill” energy policy by signing an executive order to “expedite” permitting and leasing for energy projects in Alaska. (RELATED: Getting Back to an ‘America First’ Energy Policy)

Silicon Valley’s recent shift towards supporting Trump stems in part from their realization that their technology, especially artificial intelligence, needs an incredible amount of new energy generation.
But what is the administration’s agenda when it comes to the electrical grid?
Future Electrical Needs
By some projections, data centers will add roughly 500 terawatt hours of electricity demand by the end of 2026. For perspective, this is equivalent to powering every home in the United States for an hour. It’s also roughly 10 times the energy California uses. Or to put it another way, it represents about a 25 percent increase over U. S. energy production in 2022. No wonder Trump declared our current energy situation an “emergency.”
In the last year, several large tech companies began talking with utilities and energy companies about new energy production devoted solely to their projects. Microsoft made a deal with Constellation Energy to restart one of Three Mile Island’s nuclear generators. Amazon and Google have also announced deals to build new nuclear reactors. Trump himself told world leaders that he would fast-track energy projects “co-located” with data center and AI development.
While this may look like a win for free enterprise, we should be wary of the political economy dynamics involved.
Utilities should deliver as much power as people on the electric grid want when they want it — just as grocery stores deliver milk, eggs, and other products when people want them. This is tricky, though, because energy can’t be stored or inventoried easily, yet its demand fluctuates greatly throughout the day...