"The Department of Energy report is widely viewed as groundwork for the White House to order coal and gas plants slated for closure to run for longer."
"A Department of Energy report issued Monday warns that the United States will lose the race for leadership in artificial intelligence technology unless it slams the brakes on plans to close older coal- and gas-fired power plants and speeds up construction of new ones.
To dramatize the challenge, DOE said that parts of the mid-Atlantic and Great Plains regions could face 400 hours of power outages in 2030 in a worst-case scenario where tech companies build giant energy-hungry AI data centers unabated, old coal plants keep closing and new power supplies come online slowly.
Hardest hit under this scenario, according to the DOE analysis, would be eastern states served by the PJM Interconnection grid. Weeks of power shortages in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia by 2030 would result from power plant closures and data center expansion. Under the most severe weather conditions based on history (not including future climate forecasts), power shortages in the area could total more than a month over the course of a year."
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