Climate targets in peril as Big Tech turns to fossil fuels to feed energy demand
The US is on the cusp of a natural gas power plant construction boom, as Big Tech turns to fossil fuels to meet the huge electricity needs of the artificial intelligence revolution — putting climate targets in peril. As many as 80 new gas-fired power plants will be built in the US by 2030, said energy consultancy Enverus, adding 46 gigawatts of capacity — the size of the electricity system in Norway and nearly 20 per cent more than was added in the past five years.
“Your ability to serve that kind of load reliably is very limited with traditional renewables,” said Matt Bulpitt, vice-president of power development at Entergy, a large utility in the south. In December, Entergy announced a $3.2bn plan to build three gas plants totalling 2.3GW to serve Meta’s $10bn artificial intelligence data centre, the tech company’s largest. Meta will become Entergy’s “single largest customer” once the centre is online, the utility told the Financial Times.
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