A once-steady US electricity demand curve has jolted awake. Data center build-outs (especially AI workloads), crypto mining, and new industrial loads are spiking demand to record highs in 2025 and 2026, while a surge in solar and battery storage is rapidly changing the supply mix.
Transmission bottlenecks and massive interconnection queues, meanwhile, keep timelines long and risks real. US electrical grid participants must navigate volatility with better data, faster signals, and scenario-ready modeling.
In our latest white paper, Reshaping the Grid: How Data Centers, Storage, and Renewables Are Redefining Energy in 2025 – and What to Watch in 2026, you'll learn:
- The history and pace of recent demand growth (hyperscalers, AI, crypto).
- How the US asset mix is shifting toward solar and storage and what that means operationally.
- The implications across market participants: utilities, IPPs, developers, and asset managers.
- A pragmatic outlook for 2026: policy signals, long-duration storage, and siting realities.
How We Got Here: The Demand Shock and the New Supply Stack
Demand Accelerated, Fast!
- Data centers: The Department of Energy (DOE) estimates US data center electricity use rose from 58 TWh (2014) to 176 TWh (2023) and could reach 325 to 580 TWh by 2028, driven by AI workloads. Global IEA analysis likewise flags a steep rise from AI inference and training in data centers.
- Crypto mining: The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) first official estimate places US crypto mining at ~0.6% – 2.3% of total US electricity consumption in 2023.
- Macro impact: EIA’s 2025-2026 outlook projects record US electricity consumption, from 4,097 TWh (2024) to 4,193 TWh (2025) and 4,283 TWh (2026), with commercial (data centers) and industrial sectors leading growth.
Source: EIA STEO 2025/2026 coverage; EIA Today in Energy; Reuters
Supply Is Changing Just As Quickly.
- Battery storage: The US added 10.4 GW of utility-scale battery capacity in 2024, bringing cumulative storage to >26 GW by year-end, a 66% jump. Developers report plans to add ~19.6 GW more in 2025.
- Capacity additions skew to solar and storage: EIA expects ~63 GW of new capacity in 2025, ~81% from solar plus batteries (after a record 30 GW utility-scale solar added in 2024).
This build-out is happening against a shifting policy backdrop.
The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA), signed in 2025, accelerates the phase-out of many clean energy tax credits, creating added urgency for developers to break ground before deadlines tighten.
Source: US Energy Information Administration
Want to learn more? See what utilities, IPPs, asset developers, and asset managers need to know to navigate US power grid problems – and solutions.