With a relentless focus on AI growth in the United States, it’s no surprise that the Trump Administration has recently rolled out several policies intended to spur the development of data centers and related electricity infrastructure. In December 2024, the Department of Energy (DOE) under then-President Biden released its 2024 Report on U.S. Data Center Energy Use, which details historic and anticipated growth of data center energy use.
According to the DOE report, data centers consumed 4.4% of the country’s electricity in 2023 and is expected to grow to 6.7 to 12% of all domestic electricity use by 2028. In 2014, data centers used 58 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity; in 2023 data center electricity use tripled to 176 TWh. In 2028, the report projects data center use could top 580 TWh, an enormous increase for a country whose electricity use has been fairly stable for the past two decades, when increased demand was largely ameliorated by gains in energy efficiency. Federal policymakers are working to meet the challenge the additional growth will have on the country’s energy systems.
The Trump Administration has made it clear that its policies to spur the growth of AI will continue to be a priority. On July 23, the White House released “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan”, which includes building American AI infrastructure and accelerating AI innovation. The same day, the President signed three Executive Orders (EOs) related to AI:
- Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure;
- Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack; and
- Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government.
The data center infrastructure EO lays out the Administration’s domestic policy changes designed to accelerate data center construction. It includes a streamlined permitting process for data center developers, including NEPA categorial exclusions; improvements to the domestic power grid, such as additional dispatchable power and delays to planned retirement of existing base load generation; and AI infrastructure workforce training via the Departments of Labor, Energy, Education, and Commerce, as well as the National Science Foundation.
The executive orders, which apply to federal agencies and departments, were followed by an announcement that the Department of Energy (DOE) has identified four federal sites that, as part of the AI Action Plan, will permit construction of data centers and other AI-related infrastructure:
- Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho;
- Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee;
- Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky; and
- Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The DOE announcement will allow private sector participants to develop AI data centers and energy infrastructure, including generation capacity, on federal lands overseen by the Department. The sites were selected after an April DOE Request for Information and were chosen for as best suited for the development of large-scale data centers, new power generation, and related infrastructure. DOE will release site-specific announcements to include project scopes, eligibility requirements, and submission deadlines in the coming months.
Earlier in July, President Trump, along with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), attended McCormick’s inaugural “Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit”. The Summit was held in the City of Bridges and touted more than $90 billion of planned investments in data centers and power infrastructure throughout the Commonwealth, as well as AI and workforce training programs. The commitments were announced with leaders from the energy, finance, and AI industries, including companies such as Blackstone, Google, CoreWeave, and Capital Power.
Don’t expect Congress to cede all of its power to the Administration. A plethora of congressional committees—including Energy and Commerce; Science, Space and Technology; and Commerce, Science and Transportation—have jurisdiction over various data center policies, and appropriators will be key to funding the Trump Administration’s planned investments in data centers and related physical infrastructure and workforce training. Hearings, legislative markups, and funding bills are expected in the coming months that could have enormous impact on America’s data center policies.
