American Energy Dominance Is Imperative

This week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, members of Congress, representatives from OpenAI, NVIDIA, and other energy and technology leaders will gather in Washington to tackle the United States' energy challenge: How can we quickly and cheaply deploy the energy America needs to support our economy and win the AI race with China?

Hosted by American Affairs, the American Conservation Coalition, and the Foundation for American Innovation, the Energy Imperatives Summit recognizes that America desperately needs more energy. If we don’t significantly increase our ability to produce and deliver electricity, consumer costs could skyrocket, and America’s hopes of AI dominance will be dead in the water.

For years, policymakers have been lulled into a false sense of security, failing to invest in new production capabilities, grid modernization, and regulatory reforms. Since the beginning of the 21st century, total energy consumption in the U.S. effectively flatlined and then minimally declined thanks to changes such as increased energy efficiency and deindustrialization.

But the past is not prologue. Artificial intelligence is set to spike energy demand, and America is unprepared. A large AI data center can use the same amount of electricity as 50,000 homes. Today, there are over 5,000 data centers in the U.S., and that number is rapidly rising. While AI data centers consumed 4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023, they are expected to consume 9% by 2030. By that same time, such data centers are expected to require up to 5GW of electricity, larger than the output of America’s largest nuclear plant.

It is impossible to reduce consumption in other sectors to account for AI’s growing demand. Our only option is to increase production now. If not, the laws of supply and demand dictate that energy prices will increase, pushing inflation up. Meanwhile, China will gain an edge by operating its data centers at capacity and at a lower cost, while American AI developers will reduce processing costs and pay a premium.

But increasing production is much easier said than done.

Natural gas turbines that convert gas to electricity have a five-year wait list for installation. Meanwhile, natural gas plants are triple the cost they were a few years ago.

It took 16 years to expand the Vogtle nuclear power plant, the first new reactor brought online in nearly a decade, adding a mere 2.2 GW of energy. On the other side of the world, China is moving forward on not one but 10 more nuclear reactors using the Vogtle design. And they’re doing it for a fraction of the cost. Vogtle’s two new reactors cost $35 billion to build, while China’s 10 reactors are expected to cost $27 billion.

Energy infrastructure — whether a nuclear plant, natural gas pipeline, geothermal facility, solar farm, or transmission line — must also undergo a grueling National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process, which takes three to over five years to complete.

Even if America could rapidly and cheaply construct new power plants, we’d still need to overcome the distribution crisis. The U.S. electrical grid is old, vulnerable, and in decline. In recent years, our two largest states, California and Texas, experienced fatal wildfires and blackouts due to grid failures. Blackouts in much of the United States are becoming more common.

Addressing all of these problems is difficult, but not impossible. The Energy Imperatives Summit will focus on what we can do now to improve America’s energy outlook.

Perhaps most important is comprehensive permitting reform to significantly reduce regulatory delays and costs. This reform includes updating the NEPA process and reducing the undue legal liability energy developers face under the current environmental regulatory regime. There is no reason it should take years to bring new power stations online. 

Additionally, the federal government must recognize that traditional lenders often hesitate to finance long-term, high-cost energy projects like nuclear or critical mineral mining (critical minerals are necessary for technologies like solar and batteries). Thankfully, policymakers have already established a mechanism to address this issue in the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO). The Trump administration should oppose the provisions in the House-passed reconciliation package that would rescind the credit subsidy that funds LPO’s operations. Instead, the administration should reaffirm its support for this critical office that lowers the risk for private investors while also turning a profit for American taxpayers.

There are many reasons America doesn’t build anymore. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At the Energy Imperatives Summit, we are bringing the nation’s top energy policy minds together to finally address our energy failures head-on, ensuring the United States always has the power to win.