Moody's: AI and cloud push data center demand, $110B need
AI and cloud tech are making data centers use much more electricity, and Moody's says the US will need $110 billion to build 45 gigawatts of new power generation through 2030.
Most of this extra energy will come from natural gas, with some help from solar and storage, just to keep up with all the demand.
Moody's warns electricity costs $25B-$30B annually
Moody's senior vice president of ratings at Moody's Ratings's global infrastructure finance group Ryan Wobbrock points out that electricity costs could rise by $25 billion to $30 billion a year, with data centers themselves putting in about $15 billion for their own projects.
But building new gas plants is slow right now due to construction and regulatory delays, so meeting these energy needs won't be easy.
Nuclear restarts will only play a small role in all this growth.