How “Power Couples” Can Help the United States Win the Global AI Race

RMI proposes a "Power Couples" strategy to meet the surging electricity demands of AI data centers in the United States. This approach involves pairing large electricity consumers with new-build wind, solar, and battery resources located near existing generators with approved grid interconnections, allowing for rapid deployment of clean energy without compromising grid reliability or increasing costs for other ratepayers.

• The "Power Couples" strategy can rapidly provide over 50 GW of new load for data centers or other concentrated loads, with an average of 88% carbon-free energy. Over 30 GW of this capacity could be delivered at a cost of less than $100 per megawatt-hour (MWh), while the total 50 GW remains under $200/MWh.
• US electricity demand forecasts have increased sharply; nationwide utilities expect demand to rise by 15.8% over the next five years, compared to a 4.7% growth expectation in 2023. Specific utilities have seen even larger jumps: Dominion Energy Virginia's forecast rose from 22% to 58% by 2035, Georgia Power from 0% to 48%, and Duke from 7% to 33%.
• Data centers are a primary driver of load growth, with McKinsey & Company projecting that their power consumption will reach 606 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2030, which is a four-fold increase from 2023 levels.
• A "Power Couple" consists of a large electricity consumer paired with new solar, wind, and battery resources sized to meet the on-site load, situated near an existing generator that already has an approved interconnection. This structure utilizes "surplus interconnection" provisions from FERC Order 845 (2018) to fast-track the connection of new generation resources.
• The strategy protects grid reliability and affordability by using physical safeguards to ensure the new load does not use the grid for capacity, energy, or delivery infrastructure. This prevents the load from burdening the grid if associated generation fails and ensures costs are borne by the demand-creating customers rather than other ratepayers.
• The highest potential for implementing Power Couples is found in the Southeast, ERCOT (Texas), and PJM (Mid-Atlantic), regions that are seeing significant forecasted load growth from manufacturing and data centers.

APA

RMI (2025). How “Power Couples” Can Help the United States Win the Global AI Race. https://rmi.org/resources/how-power-couples-can-help-the-united-states-win-the-global-ai-race/

Chicago

RMI. How “Power Couples” Can Help the United States Win the Global AI Race. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/how-power-couples-can-help-the-united-states-win-the-global-ai-race/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=How “Power Couples” Can Help the United States Win the Global AI Race |date=20 February 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/how-power-couples-can-help-the-united-states-win-the-global-ai-race/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025how, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{How “Power Couples” Can Help the United States Win the Global AI Race}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/how-power-couples-can-help-the-united-states-win-the-global-ai-race/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }