US Gas Power Pipeline Swells to 60 GW as AI Demand Reshapes Grid Plans

The United States now has 60.4 gigawatts of new gas-fired power capacity in the planning pipeline for completion by 2030 — a 44 percent increase from the 41.8 GW anticipated just last December, according to an Environment America Research & Policy Center report.

To grasp the scale: those planned gas additions would exceed the total generation capacity of every US state except Texas, California, and Florida. Texas alone accounts for roughly a third of the projected new gas capacity nationally.

The expansion is being driven by electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers, which has pulled gas generation back into utility planning after years on the sidelines. Analysts warn this trajectory puts the US strategy for a cleaner grid at risk — especially since new wind project volumes fell by 33.9 percent over the same period. Compared with early 2023, planned gas interconnections have nearly tripled.

All 60.4 GW represent applications submitted to the federal Energy Information Administration. Whether the figure actually reshapes the grid depends on how many projects obtain all required approvals and licences and are ultimately built before 2030.

The public-health consequences of following through could be severe. Modelling cited in the report suggests a rapid data-center expansion scenario could cause nearly 1,300 premature deaths in 2028 through air pollution — generated by fossil fuel power stations, dedicated gas turbines at facility sites, and diesel backup generators kept on standby. New plants coming online now will operate for decades, and their presence will delay the closure of existing coal-fired units.

Source: Electrek