There is a ticking time bomb hanging over the U.S. economy. The nation’s electricity grid operators and utilities are projecting rapidly approaching power shortfalls. And instead of helping address the crisis, U.S. energy policy is making a bad situation far worse.

Power demand is suddenly soaring. New battery and semiconductor manufacturing, reshoring of supply chains and the arrival of electric vehicles are all driving demand. But it’s the emergence of artificial intelligence and the exponential growth of enormous data centers — with the power needs of small cities — that is game-changing.

In Virginia — the epicenter for data center growth — Dominion Power, the largest utility in the state, projects electricity demand will jump 85% in the next 15 years. PG&E in California expects electricity demand to rise 70% in the same period. New York’s grid operator sees power demand jumping as much as 90% over the next 20 years. To meet that, the state will need to triple its installed generating capacity.

What’s happening in Virginia, California and New York is also occurring across the country. The U.S. Department of Energy now conservatively estimates that national power demand will double by 2050.

Meeting that kind of growth would be an enormous challenge by itself. But meeting that new demand while also tearing down the very foundation of our power system is all but impossible. And yet, that’s exactly what’s happening.

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