Rising demand from data centers is adding pressure to the US electric grid, prompting concerns about higher bills and possible technical problems. But industry leaders say the influx of new connections may also make utilities and energy companies adopt tools that can help the grid handle change.
More demand, more variables
The AI boom has brought a sharp increase in energy demand across the country. Critics warn that connecting new loads is testing aging grid infrastructure, with potential effects ranging from higher electricity bills in the near term to outages or other technical problems over time.
At TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this month, three industry leaders described a system facing several demands at once. Apoorv Bhargava, founder and CEO of Weavegrid, said utilities are managing renewable energy alongside new loads such as electric vehicles, data centers and heat pumps.
That mix makes coordination increasingly important. Bhargava said utilities are grappling with how to manage and orchestrate these changing inputs and demands. The challenge is not only adding capacity, but also making effective use of the grid already in place.
Software can help coordinate energy use
Weavegrid focuses on load orchestration and management. Its software is intended to help organizations deploy energy efficiently and optimize connections, with the aim of reducing bills for utility payers.
This approach addresses a different part of the infrastructure challenge from building new lines. If utilities can better coordinate how energy is used and how new connections operate, they may be able to get more from the existing system as demand grows.
Bhargava’s comments point to a broader shift in the work utilities face: handling more sources of energy and more types of electricity use at the same time. Renewable generation, vehicles, heating and data centers all add variables that need to be managed together.
New transmission technology enters the picture
Tim Heidel, CEO of Veir, described a physical infrastructure approach. The company sells superconductive power lines designed to transfer energy more efficiently than traditional lines. Veir says its cables can carry power five times further while requiring 20 times less space.
Those characteristics could matter as the grid needs to move more energy through constrained areas. Heidel said investment in AI infrastructure is driving innovation and bringing technologies closer to scale. He argued that combining these developments could help data centers become better neighbors in their communities.
Earlier this month, Veir raised $110 million in a series C funding round. The funding is one example in the source of the investment and activity accompanying the growth in AI infrastructure.
Urgency may open room for experimentation
Kristen Eberhard, VP of policy at Rewiring America, said the higher demand has created urgency around grid modernization and made industries more willing to try new approaches. Her organization advocates for household electrification, another change that adds to the need for grid planning.
Eberhard described the current period as an “improv era,” with a willingness to pursue several responses at once. She said the grid needs more transmission lines and centralized power plants, while also taking advantage of resources that had previously been left unused.
Together, the perspectives show why the data center boom is both a strain and a catalyst. New demand intensifies existing concerns about infrastructure, costs and reliability. It also creates pressure to coordinate energy use, expand transmission and bring new technologies into wider use.
Whether these changes can keep pace with demand remains an open question in the source. The industry leaders’ argument is that the need to respond quickly may help move grid modernization forward, while giving utilities more ways to manage a system with increasingly varied demands.