The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects electricity demand will hit record highs in 2026 and 2027. That ends two decades of basically flat power consumption. AI data centers, crypto mining, and the shift to electric heat and transport are driving AI usage and data center expansion.
Pinning down exactly how much power AI needs versus heat pumps and electric vehicles is tricky. Plenty of planned data center builds are sitting on hold right now. The infrastructure isn't ready. And America's grid can't keep up. EIA projections are projections, not guarantees.
Nobody's building power plants fast enough to match the demand forecasts.
The tech giants aren't waiting around. Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania, aiming for 835 megawatts of nuclear power by 2028. Google partnered with Kairos Power to deploy small modular reactors, targeting 500 megawatts by 2035. Amazon Web Services bought a data center campus directly connected to Talen Energy's Susquehanna nuclear station, locking in 960 megawatts of capacity.
These companies are betting on nuclear because AI workloads need constant, reliable power. Solar and wind can't provide the baseload these data centers require. Reactors take years to build. AI companies are hungry now.