At a time when huge AI data center electricity demands are projected to cause domestic shortages, drive up costs and overwhelm transmission grid capacities, President Trump has a better idea; namely to have them apply ingenuity and enterprise to directly power up their own projects.
During his Feb. 24 State of Union Address, the president said, "Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new rate payer protection pledge.
"You know what that is? We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs."
"We have an old grid. It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that's needed. So, I'm telling them, they can build their own plant.
"They're going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company's ability to get electricity, while at the same time lowering prices of electricity for you," he added.
Facing prospective electricity shortages and rate increases, 13 state governors have joined with the president in proposing that AI developers "bring their own power" to run data centers and/or agree to let their electricity be curtailed when growing public demand exceeds supply such as during exceptionally cold or hot seasonal weather periods.
These are pragmatic concerns given that data centers which can draw as much electricity as entire cities are projected to consume about 12% of all U.S. power by 2028, up from 2% prior to 2020.
No amount of intermittent renewables (principally wind and solar) paired with storage batteries will come close to fulfilling this around-the-clock requirement.
While many states are offering tax breaks and other incentives to attract data centers, meeting the attendant electricity demand will require a mix of energy sources to provide reliable 24/7 baseline power including nuclear, natural gas, and clean coal.
Elon Musk's xAI is building natural gas plants in Tennessee and overcoming a global shortage of large gas turbines with clusters of smaller ones including retrofitted old jet engines.
Although AI hyperscalers typically prefer to draw electricity from the grid as a cheaper option than bringing their own generation, Democratic opposition to all fossil energy, natural gas included, leave them with necessities to include self-funded power transmission in the cost mix to avoid permitting hassles of network connection.
With about 20 gigawatts of fossil fuel power which were scheduled to retire over the next two years under the Biden administration, nuclear plants which currently produce about 19% of the country's electricity must be substantially increased.
Accordingly, on May 23, 2025, President Trump issued four executive orders as part of the administration's effort to quadruple U.S. nuclear generating capacity by 2050, promote development of advanced nuclear technologies, build out nuclear fuel supply chains, expedite the licensing process, and increase U.S. nuclear exports.
Microsoft wants to reopen Pennsylvania's retired Three Mile Island nuclear plant, a project that may require several years.
Meta has announced deals with advanced on-site nuclear startups which may require more than a decade to bring online.
Other states are also stepping up opportunities to develop nuclear power resources.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Santee Cooper, a big power provider, is looking for buyers to restart two nuclear reactors that were mothballed years ago at South Carolina's large Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station where construction was halted in 2017.
The stoppage occurred after South Carolina Electric & Gas — now part of Dominion Energy — had already jointly spent around $9 billion.
Plant Vogtle, operated by Southern Co. in Georgia, the nation’s largest nuclear plant, is adding two new reactors at the site at a cost of more than $30 billion.
New York plans to build the first major new U.S. nuclear plant undertaken in more than 15 years, a policy reversal since the Indian Point nuclear plant roughly 40 miles upriver from Manhattan was closed in 2021 because of environmental concerns and its proximity to so many people down the Hudson River.
Since closing Indian Point which had supplied about 25% of the electricity needs of New York City, the state has since had to burn more fossil fuels to keep the lights on.
Although the nuclear industry has been plagued with cost overruns, Alphabet is aiming to reduce nuclear costs by deploying a series of next-generation small modular reactors (SMRs) through a deal with Kairos Power, with the first such plant to be brought online by 2030.
SMRs offer small and modular advantages of being able to be custom designed for a particular location, then shipped to and installed on site and incrementally added to match increasing demand.
With the advent of modern Generation IV reactors, SMRs can also operate separately from public utility grids in areas lacking adequate capacity.
In the meantime, China is relying on coal to power its AI buildout, having commissioned more than 50 large new coal plants last year, compared to about 20 a year in the previous decade.
The U.S. can't afford to lose to China in the race for AI, and Americans shouldn't have to pay for the cost of tech companies' green virtue signaling.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read more Larry Bell Insider articles — Click Here Now.
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