Data centers consumed about 1.5% of global electricity in 2024. This year, that number has climbed enough that data centers are expected to become the world's fifth-largest energy consumer, with usage falling between the amount Japan and Russia consume. The surge is being driven largely by demand from artificial intelligence, and the energy industry is trying to keep up.
According to a report by Fox News, energy companies are responding with both new investment and experimental technology. Exelon, one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the United States, is at the center of that response. The company owns and operates electric grid infrastructure that delivers electricity to homes and businesses across a wide service area.
Exelon CEO Calvin Butler described the scale of the investment ahead. "As an industry, we are investing approximately $1.1 trillion in our infrastructure over the next five years to ensure that we're meeting that need and that demand," Butler said. He also described what his company specifically controls. "We're a pure transmission and distribution company. So, my responsibility every day is to operate a safe, reliable, and resilient grid. So, I'm your pipes and wires. I do not control the generation," he said. "What we've seen across the PJM footprint is that supply costs have increased 645% since 2024."
That kind of cost pressure is pushing companies to look beyond traditional power sources. One company working on an alternative is Commonwealth Fusion Systems, based in Devens, Massachusetts. The company is developing fusion energy, the same process that powers the sun and stars, as a potential source of 24/7 reliable power for the grid.
Brandon Sorbom, co-founder and chief science officer of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, explained the basic principle. "When you take light nuclei like hydrogen, and you combine them together, and you release energy in that process. That energy is released in the form of heat, which then you can convert to electricity," Sorbom said.
The company's estimates for its ARC fusion power plant are striking. The facility could produce 50 times more power than it consumes. Each location could generate enough electricity to power a small city for a full year, using only as much fuel as a pickup truck could carry. Those figures come from papers co-authored by 58 scientists from major tech universities, with support from public-private partnerships.
Sorbom put the numbers in more familiar terms. "One of these power plants we think could power about 280,000 American homes," he said. "It releases about 10 million times more energy per weight by reaction than chemical energy."
Fusion energy still carries significant uncertainty. MIT researchers estimate it could eventually supply anywhere from 10% to 50% of electricity, but the institution's estimate does not expect that to happen until 2100. Other scientists warn that if any fusion power plants do reach the grid, the process will likely be expensive. Sorbom acknowledged the difficulty ahead. "The biggest challenge that we have right now is actually the integration piece of the system. So we're building this complex commercial system," he said.
The competing timelines and cost questions mean fusion is unlikely to solve the near-term energy crunch that data centers are creating. In the meantime, utilities like Exelon are focused on expanding and strengthening the existing grid to handle loads that were not anticipated when much of the current infrastructure was built. The 645% rise in supply costs within the PJM footprint, which covers a large portion of the eastern United States, gives a concrete picture of how fast conditions are changing.
