MANASSAS, Va. – Northern Virginia could face more than 400 hours of power outages a year by 2030, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy, raising alarms about the region’s ability to keep up with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and data centers.
The report, released in July, highlights a significant imbalance: while demand from AI infrastructure and data centers is expected to surge by 50 gigawatts nationally, the U.S. is retiring 104 gigawatts of firm generation—like natural gas and coal plants—with only 22 gigawatts of firm replacement power planned. The gap puts pressure on the electric grid and raises the risk of prolonged outages across the country.
