President Trump used a year-end address to promise a rapid expansion of U.S. power capacity — a move he said will blunt rising electricity costs tied to the growth of artificial intelligence and other heavy-load industries.
What he announced
- Trump pledged that “within the next 12 months, we will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants,” calling it a record rollout that will drive down electricity prices and broader consumer costs. He said his administration will accelerate approvals for new production projects to tackle what he described as AI-driven energy pressures.
- During the speech he showed charts he said demonstrate falling prices and slower wage growth under his administration, while blaming Democrats for rising health-insurance costs. He also referenced a 43-day government shutdown in October–November that, he said, was pushed by Democrats seeking to extend pandemic-era insurance subsidies for 22 million Americans due to expire on Dec. 31. Trump acknowledged his approval ratings dipped during the shutdown but said they have since recovered modestly.
Grid stress from AI and data centers
- The announcement comes as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reports a dramatic surge in large-load interconnection requests — roughly 226 gigawatts (GW) now, up from about 63 GW at the end of last year.
- ERCOT says roughly 73% of those requests are data-center projects sized for AI-scale operations, underscoring how machine-learning deployments are reshaping grid demand in real time.
Why crypto readers should care
- Energy policy and grid capacity matter directly to crypto firms and miners: electricity costs are a major input for proof-of-work mining operations, co-location providers, and any blockchain or Web3 projects with heavy compute or data-storage needs. A rapid increase in generation capacity could ease price pressure and create more headroom for large compute customers, but delivery timelines, plant type, and permitting remain key variables.
- Texas — where ERCOT operates — has been a major hub for crypto mining and data infrastructure. The jump in interconnection requests shows growing competition for grid connections that could influence power pricing, curtailment risk, and site availability for miners and cloud-based blockchain services.
Bottom line
Trump framed the plant buildup as part of a broader plan to bolster U.S. economic competitiveness and tame energy costs amid an AI-driven demand surge. For crypto operators, the policy direction and ERCOT’s load figures are a reminder that access to reliable, affordable power will be a strategic constraint as compute-heavy AI and blockchain workloads expand.
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