The need for gas-fired plants appears to be at an all-time high given the energy needs of the growing data center industry.
But building those plants may be proving more difficult than ever, say multiple published sources.
Transforming “natural gas into electricity requires giant metal turbines that are increasingly difficult to secure,” reports the New York Times.
Companies that have yet to reserve such equipment may be looking at “waits of three or four years, about twice as long as just a year earlier.” At the same time, construction costs for such facilities, due to a variety of factors, has greatly accelerated.
According to the Global Energy Monitor, the U.S. currently has the “second-largest pipeline of gas-fired plants in development.”
In just the last year alone, the country has seen a doubling of its oil and gas-fired capacity in development. If all of the currently planned facilities become reality it will represent around $85 billion in capital costs.
And a confluence of forces, reports the site Fast Company, is only going to create a more immediate need: “On top of the artificial intelligence boom, the frenzy for new electricity is fueled by crypto mining, the broader electrification of society, and a bipartisan push to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.”
But despite the demand, there is still a marginal lack of certainty in the economic future of such plants.
Should any specific data center facility end up not being in need of the energy they had previously anticipated from a built gas-fired plant, that plant is at risk of becoming a stranded asset that could be decommissioned before the end of its economic life.
Industry forecasts currently predict that the gas plant boom will reach its peak in 2028, before swiftly declining by 2032.
Meanwhile, new gas plant projects have been announced in recent months in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
April 29, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
