Report says US power plans are shifting back toward fossil fuels

In short: A new report says the US is planning far more fossil fuel power projects, even though renewable energy like wind and solar is often cheaper.

What's going on

A report from the Environmental Defense Fund and Atlas Public Policy says the US is building more fossil fuel infrastructure than it has in a decade, while growth in renewable energy is slowing.

The report links the shift to a sharp rise in electricity demand. More data centers, meaning large buildings full of computers that run online services and AI (like warehouses for computing), are plugging into the power grid. The report also points to growing demand from factories and electric vehicles.

The data shows how quickly plans have changed. New fossil fuel projects went from about 5 percent of planned new power capacity in 2024 to about 30 percent by the second quarter of 2026. The report says planned fossil fuel capacity could reach 68 gigawatts by 2030, which is a large amount of new power, and it reflects a 45 percent jump from plans just six months earlier.

The report also says renewable projects are being canceled more often than fossil fuel projects, 4.9 percent versus 2.9 percent. It notes that new large solar and wind farms still tend to cost less than new gas plants, averaging about $68 to $69 per megawatt-hour versus about $90 for new combined-cycle gas plants (a megawatt-hour is a standard way to measure electricity, like billing by the “kilowatt-hour” at home, but much bigger).

What to watch

Some planned gas projects may still fall apart, especially if forecasts for AI data center demand turn out to be too high. Another key issue is cost for regular people, since the report and other recent coverage link rising demand and new infrastructure to higher electricity bills. The report warns that if many new gas projects get built, they could lock in more pollution and higher power prices for decades.

Source: The Verge AI