AI Boom Is Driving a Surprise Resurgence of US Gas-Fired Power
New gas plants just keep on coming, defying expectations that their rapid growth was nearing an end.
Power lines connecting to a gas plant in Texas.
Photographer: Shelby Tauber/BloombergEnergy companies in the US are planning new natural gas-fired power generation at the fastest pace in years, one of the clearest signals yet that fossil fuels are likely to have a longer runway than previously thought.
From Florida to Oregon, utilities are racing to meet a surge in demand from power-hungry AI data centers, manufacturing facilities and electric vehicles. The staying power of gas, which in 2016 overtook coal as the No. 1 US source of electricity, has surprised some experts who not so long ago had projected the era of frenzied domestic demand growth for the fuel might soon come to an end.