Burgeoning demand for the electricity needed to power AI data centers is forcing utilities to reconsider plans and weigh tradeoffs. This is happening in Nebraska, where residents of North Omaha looked forward to the shutdown of a coal-burning power plant because of the area’s high pollution and health issues. However, the local utility delayed the closure because of the need to supply electricity to rapidly expanding data centers for tech giants Meta and Google, which has strained the region’s power grid.
In addition to the slow arrival of solar and wind supplies, regulatory delays in connecting new energy projects, especially for natural gas, have also hampered progress in powering this region’s grid.
These new data centers, which support the growing AI industry, are overloading the local power grid, prompting the utility to maintain coal usage for longer than anticipated. Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) acknowledges the challenges and highlights natural gas as a more reliable, cleaner option.
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