In the 21st century, the future is run on electricity. From the turn of the century, the invention of the portal cell phone needed its battery charged. Now, in 2025, the innovation of artificial intelligence (AI) is incredibly powerful, but also has an alarmingly high energy demand. It is estimated that, by 2027, AI servers would consume over 85 Terrawatt hours of electricity annually. This almost tripled the total annual consumption of electricity in the country of Ireland. So, how can we prepare for this rising power demand?
Unfortunately, the dated infrastructure in the US power grid makes it very difficult to accommodate extreme increases like this. Currently, most of the US power grid is over 4 decades old. This means that 70% of transmission lines and 55% of residential transformers are approaching their service date.
Because of this, the most efficient solution is simply replacing the outdated infrastructure. For example, the transformers from ELSCO are 99.4% efficient compared to previous generations of transformers. Not only that, but they have a greater capacity which would make it much easier to handle creeping power demands.
Ultimately, the US power grid is in dire need of upgrades. The easiest way to make sure the power grid is ready for the future is to make infrastructure upgrades today.
Source: ELSCO
