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The AI Race Is a Power Race: Solar + Storage Is the Fastest Path Forward

The U.S. is accelerating its leadership in artificial intelligence, and energy infrastructure must keep pace. AI’s rapid growth is driving a surge in electricity demand, with data centers expected to use 3-10x more power in the coming decade. High-performance systems powering AI training and inference loads like GPUs can draw megawatts per rack. Simply put, you can’t scale AI without power.

Meeting this demand requires a modern, resilient, and scalable energy strategy. Today’s grid is under pressure, and timelines for new transmission and interconnection can stretch years. In response, many data center developers are exploring on-site generation to meet their needs faster.

Solar + storage offers a unique advantage. It’s fast to deploy (often in under 24 months), modular, and increasingly dispatchable thanks to advances in battery technology. While it’s not the only solution, it’s one of the most immediate and scalable tools available to help close the AI-energy gap.

This is not just a climate issue; it’s a capacity issue. And it’s a strategic opportunity. AI is becoming the backbone of economic growth, digital infrastructure, and national competitiveness. To lead in AI, we must ensure abundant, resilient, and domestically generated electricity.

Energy policy is AI policy. It’s industrial policy. It’s security policy.

Now is the time to align our energy strategy with our innovation goals by accelerating clean energy deployment, streamlining interconnection, and enabling market structures that reward speed, flexibility, and resilience.

Other nations are moving quickly to integrate energy and AI strategies. The U.S. has a powerful opportunity to lead by investing in the infrastructure that powers intelligence.

If we want to win the AI race, we need to treat electricity as the critical infrastructure it is, putting solar + storage at the center of that strategy.

For more information on this topic, get in touch with our subject matter team: Contact a Renewable Energy Expert Today.

Contributor:

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Hans Royal, Senior Director Client Development, Renewable Energy & Carbon Advisory

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