Trump administration threatens 92 GW of new electricity supply with red tape
News Source
β’Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:58:30 +0000
π° What Happened
A new study says Trump administration policies could stop 92 gigawatts of new clean power from being built. That is enough electricity to power millions of homes. Already, 7 gigawatts of projects on federal land were canceled in 2025 due to permitting delays and funding cuts. Another 12 gigawatts on federal land and 80 gigawatts on private land are at risk.
The study from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says over $121 billion in energy investments are threatened. The delays come at a bad time because demand for electricity is rising fast. AI data centers are a big reason for the increase. They need huge amounts of power to run their servers and cooling systems.
Meanwhile, the largest US electricity grid has spent four years blocking new power sources from connecting. This has frozen supply while demand keeps growing. Tech companies are now trying to build their own power sources to keep up.
π The Backstory
US electricity demand was flat for 20 years before suddenly starting to climb. The main driver is the AI boom. Data centers that train and run AI models use enormous amounts of power. A single large data center can use as much electricity as a small city.
BloombergNEF predicts data center electricity use will nearly triple by 2035. But building new power plants, especially clean energy ones, takes years of permits and approvals. The Trump administration has made this process even harder by adding more red tape and cutting federal funding for clean energy.
The problem is especially bad in regions with the most data centers. Grid operators have stopped approving new connections, which means no new power plants can join. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are now investing in their own solar, wind, and nuclear projects to bypass the grid bottleneck.
π― Why It Matters
AI needs electricity to run. If there is not enough power, AI tools could slow down or become more expensive. But the real impact is on your home. If power supply cannot keep up, you could face blackouts or higher electricity bills.
A new study says Trump administration policies could stop 92 gigawatts of new clean power from being built. That is enough electricity to power millions of homes. Already, 7 gigawatts of projects on federal land were canceled in 2025 due to permitting delays and funding cuts. Another 12 gigawatts on federal land and 80 gigawatts on private land are at risk.
The study from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says over $121 billion in energy investments are threatened. The delays come at a bad time because demand for electricity is rising fast. AI data centers are a big reason for the increase. They need huge amounts of power to run their servers and cooling systems.
Meanwhile, the largest US electricity grid has spent four years blocking new power sources from connecting. This has frozen supply while demand keeps growing. Tech companies are now trying to build their own power sources to keep up.
US electricity demand was flat for 20 years before suddenly starting to climb. The main driver is the AI boom. Data centers that train and run AI models use enormous amounts of power. A single large data center can use as much electricity as a small city.
BloombergNEF predicts data center electricity use will nearly triple by 2035. But building new power plants, especially clean energy ones, takes years of permits and approvals. The Trump administration has made this process even harder by adding more red tape and cutting federal funding for clean energy.
The problem is especially bad in regions with the most data centers. Grid operators have stopped approving new connections, which means no new power plants can join. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are now investing in their own solar, wind, and nuclear projects to bypass the grid bottleneck.
AI needs electricity to run. If there is not enough power, AI tools could slow down or become more expensive. But the real impact is on your home. If power supply cannot keep up, you could face blackouts or higher electricity bills.