US launches effort to speed power grid projects for AI

The Trump administration on Thursday launched an effort to speed development of power plants and transmission lines as artificial intelligence boosts demand, even as it orders fossil fuel plants set to shut for good to keep operating.

The Department of Energy, or DOE, is requesting information from stakeholders including utilities and regional transmission managers on near-term investment opportunities, readiness of projects, expectations on growth in power demand, and constraints that it says it can address.

US President Donald Trump on his first day back in office in January issued an order declaring an energy emergency as artificial intelligence, data centers, and electric vehicles are boosting power demand for the first time in two decades. The DOE has ordered several coal and natural gas plants that had planned to shut to keep operating, the latest US move supporting fossil fuels. Trump claims that rapid adoption of solar and wind power has made US electricity unstable and expensive, justifying his bid to end most subsidies for them. Reliability has improved in Texas, the US grid with the most renewable energy, however. The Speed to Power program will help the DOE determine how to use funding programs and national emergency authorities to expand power generation and the grid. The DOE has billions of dollars in funds and financing through departments including its Loan Programs Office. In July, the DOE axed a $4.9 billion loan guarantee for a transmission line that was meant to send power from wind and solar energy projects in Kansas to cities in the Midwest and East.

Also on Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took actions aimed to boost grid security. FERC approved and proposed rules to reduce the risks of the supply chain, cyber attacks and electrical grid disruptions caused by extreme cold, which can sometimes lead to blackouts. Green energy opponents say that coal plants that have been slated to retire during Trump's second term will be needed.

Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, predicted that 38 coal plants that are scheduled to close through 2028 would remain open, either on Trump orders or voluntarily.

The US Energy Information Administration said in July that in the first three months of 2025 power plants burned about 20 per cent more coal than they did during that quarter in 2024.