Data centers and the race for AI: in the United States, electricity is in short supply and the environment is suffering

This project, which the state of West Virginia is trying to "force-feed" the village's 600 residents, according to the mayor, is just one more example in the tech industry's race to power its servers, which have become more energy-hungry than ever due to the boom in artificial intelligence.

To quickly connect their thousands of data centers, American cloud computing giants are getting directly involved in energy production. And while they're turning to renewable energies and trying to revive nuclear power, they're also calling on fossil fuels like inexpensive gas to help.

In Pennsylvania, a former coal-fired power plant will now run on gas to power a data center. In Georgia, xAI, Elon Musk's company behind the Grok chatbot, has connected 35 methane turbines directly to its servers, all without a permit, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The advantage: fast and reliable access to a large amount of electricity. The share of data centers in U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase from 4 to 5 percent currently to between 6.7 and 12 percent by 2028, according to government estimates.

The American electricity grid "is facing a growth in demand we haven't seen in over a generation," warns Todd Snitchler, head of EPSA, which represents a large number of electricity producers. To respond, they are taking action on all fronts. Almost everywhere, the end of life of old power plants is being pushed back, and additional turbines are being added while waiting for new facilities to emerge.

But the thirst for AI is such that more and more tech giants are building their own power plants, off the grid. Even if it means doing so against the wishes of local residents.

In Davis, the mayor and hundreds of his constituents have been fighting Fundamental Data's proposed power plant since April. Al Tomson called the company a "shell company" working "on behalf of a large, unidentified tech company." Fundamental Data did not respond to AFP's multiple requests for comment.

Printed in the mayor's office is a map stating that the gas turbines, with their toxic emissions, would be located "1.1 kilometers from residents" of the tourist village surrounded by nature three hours from Washington. But Al Tomson says he's helpless. The state of West Virginia recently passed a law that, in an effort to attract billions of dollars of investment in data centers, prohibits local officials from taking action against them.

World Competition

Davis residents' frustration boiled over at a particularly tense public meeting in late June. For five hours, some 300 people heckled regulators tasked with approving an initial air quality permit they said was on track to be granted.

As we left, volunteers distributed "No to the data center complex" signs to put up in your garden - some are already plastered on shop windows.

But these opponents face a problem beyond their control. "Failure to power the data centers needed to win the AI race [...] would allow competing nations to set the rules of the digital world and control its infrastructure," warns a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Some in Davis and West Virginia favor the projects, seeing them as an opportunity to reindustrialize a depressed region—the proposed plant would be located on the site of a former coal mine. Since the mining jobs have left, “we need something here to keep our young people,” said Charles Davis, a plaid shirt and leather boots resident of Thomas, a nearby village.