PJM has also forecast that electricity demand in its territory will surpass available supply by 6.6 gigawatts starting in 2027, which the Wall Street Journal describes as equivalent to more than six nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n
No easy fixes<\/p>\n
Some US manufacturers have raised the prices paid by customers to partially offset their own rising electricity bills, or are even considering relocation of their businesses, Reuters reported. The Wall Street Journal highlighted warnings from steel industry executives that production outages could become more likely if local power grids are overwhelmed by demand. Such results would likely undercut the competitiveness and viability of US manufacturing, which the Trump administration claims to have prioritized<\/a> despite the loss of 83,000 manufacturing jobs<\/a> in Trump\u2019s first year back in office.<\/p>\n The White House has touted getting Big Tech companies to pay for new power generation and transmission infrastructure by signing a Ratepayer Protection Pledge<\/a>, which happens to lack any meaningful enforcement mechanism. The Trump administration also joined state governors in pushing PJM<\/a> to hold a one-time backstop auction<\/a> for purchasing new power supply capacity.<\/p>\n But the United States still faces huge challenges in building enough new power generation and transmission lines to support the energy needs of AI data center demand and US manufacturers, not to mention other businesses and residential customers<\/a>. The Trump administration\u2019s efforts to stop renewable energy projects<\/a> involving wind and solar power have also not helped.<\/p>\n