BRIAN HARRELL: America’s AI revolution can’t charge forward without lots of energy
The race for artificial intelligence (AI), or superintelligence, will be won not just by technology companies, but by the nation that can deliver reliable, affordable and secure electricity. America is in a high-stakes sprint to lead the world in AI. This technology will reshape our economy, strengthen national defense, transform manufacturing and determine which nations lead the next generation of innovation.
But Washington and Silicon Valley cannot afford to ignore a glaring bottleneck: AI runs on electricity. America must dramatically expand its power generation and delivery infrastructure if it hopes to remain the global technology leader.
Data centers are the backbone of this revolution. They require enormous amounts of electricity, reliable grid connections and specialized infrastructure. Without sufficient power, advanced AI systems are little more than expensive hardware waiting for a connection. This creates an immense opportunity for America’s electric utilities. For too long, utilities have been viewed simply as service providers. Today, they are strategic partners in America’s economic competitiveness and national security.
THE AI REVOLUTION WILL GO WHEREVER THERE'S ELECTRICITY — AND CHINA KNOWS IT
To win the AI race, America must unleash domestic energy production, accelerate infrastructure development, defend against cyber threats and ensure that the private sector — not residential ratepayers — finances this expansion. This is a crucial opportunity for the administration, Congress, state governments and the private sector to coordinate an energy strategy that prioritizes American competitiveness.
Electric utilities possess the engineering expertise and operational experience necessary to support data center expansion. They understand regional demand, transmission constraints and the complex mechanics of grid reliability. However, building the necessary infrastructure takes time; new generation facilities, transmission lines and substations often require years of planning, permitting and construction.
FIRST DATA CENTER BILL CLEARS HOUSE AS BOTH PARTIES SCRAMBLE FOR ANSWERS ON AFFORDABILITY
Data center developers, meanwhile, want to move quickly to capitalize on the AI boom. To bridge this gap, utilities and developers must collaborate much earlier in the process, aligning construction schedules, forecasting demand and identifying necessary upfront investments. Washington can support this by streamlining permitting and reducing regulatory delays to provide long-term investment certainty.
Crucially, data center developers must bear their fair share of the infrastructure costs driven by their massive electricity demands. Residential customers and small businesses should not subsidize infrastructure built primarily to serve trillion-dollar technology companies. Long-term power purchase agreements, dedicated infrastructure investments and minimum billing commitments can ensure large customers contribute appropriately. This is an argument for responsible, pro-business growth where financial risks are not shifted onto ordinary Americans.
The White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge reinforces the principle that America can accelerate AI innovation without forcing ordinary Americans to subsidize Big Tech’s infrastructure demands. Electric utilities can benefit from increased electricity sales, long-term power contracts and investments in generation and grid infrastructure, provided data center developers pay their fair share of the costs.
DATA CENTERS COULD BE THE SLEEPER ISSUE OF THE 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS
To protect consumers, we must require transparent cost allocation, enforceable commitments from large data center customers and safeguards preventing residential ratepayers from being left with stranded infrastructure costs if projects are delayed, scaled back or abandoned.
America cannot achieve energy dominance if it cannot generate enough electricity to power its expanding economy. Meeting this challenge requires an "all-of-the-above" strategy that evaluates energy resources strictly based on reliability, affordability and availability.
Natural gas provides essential dispatchable generation, while nuclear energy offers dependable baseline power with low operational emissions. Hydroelectric power, wind, solar and battery storage all contribute where they make economic sense. Existing coal facilities also remain part of the equation where continued operation is economic and legally compliant.
No single technology can solve every regional power challenge. Utilities need the flexibility to select the optimal resource mix for their customers. The objective is straightforward: build enough reliable generation and transmission capacity to meet rising demand without spiking energy prices. This is vital as data centers increasingly compete for power with manufacturers, hospitals, military bases and households. Energy abundance is a national security imperative.
There is another critical threat that deserves far more attention: cybersecurity. The electric grid and digital infrastructure are deeply interconnected. Power disruptions halt essential computing services, while software incidents at technology providers can ripple back to affect critical infrastructure. Foreign adversaries and sophisticated cybercriminals understand these critical dependencies.
Electric utilities operate vital infrastructure that must withstand attacks against corporate networks, industrial control systems and substations. Concurrently, data centers face distinct risks involving cloud platforms, software supply chains and third-party vendor access. These are interconnected risks that could have significant national security consequences.
AN AI CYBERATTACK COULD TURN OFF AMERICA'S LIGHTS BEFORE WASHINGTON EVEN UNDERSTANDS WHY
Utilities and data center operators must establish joint incident response plans, conduct realistic multisector exercises and develop secure mechanisms for sharing threat intelligence. Organizations should strengthen network segmentation, multifactor authentication and vulnerability management. In particular, utilities must ensure that a compromise of ordinary corporate IT does not provide a path into operational technology controlling the grid. A stolen password should never become a gateway to disabling the power supply.
Supply-chain security deserves equal focus. Hardware, software and remote maintenance arrangements can introduce vulnerabilities into both utility operations and data center environments. Companies must rigorously assess critical vendors and establish clear protocols for addressing compromised components.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
While the federal government has an important role in providing actionable threat intelligence, cybersecurity must not become an excuse for expensive, rigid mandates. Security frameworks should remain risk-based, practical and focused on resilience.
The relationship between utilities and data centers should not be one-way. With the right investments, large computing facilities can help improve grid flexibility. Some AI training workloads can be shifted to off-peak hours, allowing operators to reduce consumption during periods of high demand.
Furthermore, battery storage and appropriately designed onsite generation can provide grid stability during emergencies, turning data centers into strategic assets that strengthen, rather than strain, America's energy future.