A new report surveys and summarizes strategies states are employing to cope with significant new load growth.
The July report was issued by the Clean Energy States Alliance, a national, nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working together to advance clean energy.
“After many years of relatively flat electricity demand, the U.S. is now anticipating dramatic load growth, largely due to rapid deployment of data centers (including crypto mining), electrification, and large new industrial and manufacturing loads. Although load growth has quickly become a subject of concern in many states, there is significant geographic variation in its scale, timing, and sources. This is reflected in the variety of state actions to accommodate load growth,” the report said.
The key drivers of load growth include data centers, manufacturing and electrification, CESA said.
A big challenge facing states is uncertainty around load forecast projections, the report pointed out.
The future of artificial intelligence and crypto mining, changes in state policy around electrification and clean energy, and the impact of federal policies on domestic industry and manufacturing all contribute to uncertainty.
“Additionally, big data centers often scout multiple potential locations for potential development, thereby making it unclear to state regulators and utility planners if and where a particular data center will ultimately be built.”
Prior to the recent sharp increase in the rate of load growth, states used a range of supply-side strategies to accommodate business-as-usual load growth, including investments in low-cost renewables, storage, and some natural gas capacity alongside energy efficiency and demand-side programs, CESA said.
“Now faced with precipitous load growth, states are employing various strategies to meet the challenge.”
Most states -- especially those with strong clean energy/climate targets -- are continuing their existing renewable energy, efficiency, and demand response strategies, the report said.
However, several states facing high near-term load growth “are developing significant new gas capacity and delaying planned retirements of existing fossil-fuel generation plants. Many states are exploring expanded nuclear generation, and utilities are including these resources in their long-term plans. Rising concern about the cost of meeting new large loads, especially from data centers, has led some state legislatures, regulators, and utilities to develop special large-load tariffs, promote data center efficiency, and limit cost shifts among different customer groups.”
