MEETING GROWING ELECTRICITY DEMAND WITHOUT GAS

The document addresses the recent surge in U.S. electricity demand driven by data centers, manufacturing, and electric vehicles. It warns that utilities are defaulting to new gas plants, which risks creating stranded assets and conflicting with climate goals. The authors propose a portfolio of alternatives, including aggressive energy efficiency, the reuse of fossil fuel interconnection sites for renewables, demand response with large customers, and grid-enhancing technologies to improve existing transmission infrastructure.

• After a long period of stagnation, U.S. electricity demand is growing rapidly, with the North American Reliability Corporation projecting a 215 percent increase over the next 10 years.
• Some utilities are responding to demand growth by planning significant new gas capacity; for example, Georgia Power's 2023 IRP calls for 1,400 MW of new gas by winter 2026-2027, and Duke Energy's draft IRP plans for 8,900 MW of additional new gas by 2035.
• Energy efficiency is a critical tool for mitigating demand growth, as evidenced by the period between 2008 and 2023 where utility efficiency programs reduced annual demand by approximately 220 TWh per year.
• There is significant potential to accelerate clean energy deployment by reusing existing interconnection infrastructure at retiring fossil fuel sites, with RMI estimating 250 GW of potential clean energy projects, particularly in the Southeast.
• Grid-enhancing technologies and reconductoring can provide faster, lower-cost alternatives to new transmission builds, with reconductoring capable of nearly doubling transmission capacity within one to three years.
• Demand response, particularly with large customers like data centers, can address short-duration peak capacity shortfalls without requiring new gas 'peaker' units.
• Utility business models and regulatory incentives often skew decisions toward gas plants because vertically integrated for-profit entities use capital expenditures as a primary growth engine and may lack incentives for demand-reduction solutions.

APA

Gimon, E., O’Boyle, M., & Solomon, M. (n.d.). MEETING GROWING ELECTRICITY DEMAND WITHOUT GAS. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/MEETING-GROWING-ELECTRICITY-DEMAND-WITHOUT-GAS.pdf

Chicago

Gimon, Eric, Mike O’Boyle, and Michelle Solomon. MEETING GROWING ELECTRICITY DEMAND WITHOUT GAS. Energy Innovation, n.d. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/MEETING-GROWING-ELECTRICITY-DEMAND-WITHOUT-GAS.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gimon |first1=Eric |last2=O’Boyle |first2=Mike |last3=Solomon |first3=Michelle |title=MEETING GROWING ELECTRICITY DEMAND WITHOUT GAS |publisher=Energy Innovation |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/MEETING-GROWING-ELECTRICITY-DEMAND-WITHOUT-GAS.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gimonndmeeting, author = {Gimon, Eric and O’Boyle, Mike and Solomon, Michelle}, title = {{MEETING GROWING ELECTRICITY DEMAND WITHOUT GAS}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/MEETING-GROWING-ELECTRICITY-DEMAND-WITHOUT-GAS.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }