Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services are driving rapid data center development across the U.S. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) identifies large computing facilities as a major driver of rising electricity demand and expects the strongest four-year period of U.S. electricity demand growth since 2000.
As these facilities require increasingly large amounts of reliable, around-the-clock power, the impacts extend beyond the electric grid. Natural gas infrastructure is becoming an important part of the planning conversation.
Natural gas remains a major source of U.S. electricity generation and is expected to continue playing an important role as electricity demand grows. EIA forecasts natural gas consumption in the electric power sector to increase through 2027, driven in part by rising electricity demand, additions to natural gas-fired generating capacity and relatively low natural gas prices.
Data centers are a significant part of that demand story, particularly in high-growth markets such as Texas and the Mid-Atlantic. EIA expects continued growth in electricity demand from large computing facilities and has identified data centers as an important driver of longer-term U.S. electricity demand growth.
While renewables and storage will also play significant roles, natural gas-fired generation can provide dispatchable power when demand is high or renewable output is lower. EIA analysis also shows that if data center electricity demand grows faster than expected, natural gas generation could play an even larger role as utilities work to meet new load while additional generating capacity is planned, permitted and connected.
For utilities and developers, this growth creates broader questions around gas and electric capacity, transmission and distribution infrastructure, generation strategy, permitting, resiliency and project timing.
As part of Leidos, our multidisciplinary approach brings together transmission, civil, gas, generation and utility coordination to support data center development from grid to gate. Capabilities include interconnection and grid access, owner’s engineering, power generation strategy using gas, renewables or storage, transmission and substation design, construction support and lifecycle resiliency.
By bringing these capabilities together as one integrated team, Leidos can help utilities and data center developers identify constraints earlier, coordinate solutions across disciplines and plan infrastructure across the full energy system.
As data center development continues to accelerate, successful projects will increasingly depend on planning gas, electric and generation infrastructure together rather than in isolation.
(630) 353-4000
info@entrustsol.com