America Built the World’s Largest Machine. Now We’re Struggling to Keep It Alive.
The article examines how insufficient high-voltage transmission capacity is limiting the U.S. electric grid as energy demand from AI data centers grows. The Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon and Washington, faces heightened reliability and clean-energy challenges, while proposed federal legislation would expand transmission authority and require data centers to pay related costs.
Growing electricity demand from AI data centers is intensifying longstanding transmission bottlenecks across the United States. In the Pacific Northwest, the Bonneville Power Administration has not expanded transmission capacity quickly enough to connect new renewable projects, prompting concerns about rolling blackouts and missed climate targets in Oregon and Washington. A recent report cited in the article estimated that data centers consume about one-quarter of Oregon’s electricity.
The U.S. Department of Energy has projected that national transmission capacity may need to double or quadruple by 2050, but federal efforts to designate new National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors have stalled. The article also discusses Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 1920 and the proposed Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which would give the federal government greater authority over interstate power lines and require data centers to cover their transmission costs.