The AI Power Problem, Part II: The Clean Energy Beneath Our Feet
In my previous article , I argued that the next major bottleneck for artificial intelligence may not be model intelligence, chip supply, or investor enthusiasm. It may be something far more physical: electricity . AI is becoming a power-hungry industrial system. Data centres are expanding rapidly, and the International Energy Agency expects global data-centre electricity consumption to roughly double by 2030, reaching about 945 terawatt-hours . That is not just a technology trend; it is an energy-infrastructure challenge . The future may be intelligent, but as I wrote before, we still need somewhere to plug it in. This raises the next question: if AI needs enormous amounts of electricity, where should that electricity come from? The Search for Firm Clean Power Solar and wind are essential, and their growth has been extraordinary. In 2025, global renewable power capacity reached a record 5,149 GW , with solar alone adding 511 GW and reaching 2,392 GW worldw...