(Bloomberg) — Blackouts in the US could skyrocket by 2030 amid an expected increase in power demand brought on by AI, according to a Trump administration report seen as a precursor to a broader intervention to help keep coal-fired power plants from closing early.
The Energy Department report blames the expected shortfall on the closures of coal and natural gas power plants and the over-reliance on renewable energy. The analysis, which comes in response to an executive order from the White House on strengthening grid reliability and security, provides a methodology to identify areas vulnerable to outages to allow for “Federal reliability interventions.”
Blackouts could increase 100 times within five years if planned power plant closures remain on schedule without new units to replace them, the Energy Department said in the report. “Staying on the present course would undermine U.S….
