Author: PPD Team Date: 13/02/2025
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast that power consumption in the United States will reach record levels in 2025 and 2026. The surge is attributed to the growing electricity demand from data centres focused on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, alongside increased usage in homes and businesses for heating and transportation, as reported by Reuters.
The EIA projects that power demand will rise to 4,179 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2025, and increase further to 4,239 billion kWh in 2026, surpassing the previous record of 4,082 billion kWh set in 2024.
The US electric power sector expects a 2% increase in electricity generation in 2025 and a 1% rise in 2026, following 3% growth in 2024. Renewable energy sources are expected to lead this expansion.
If electricity generation continues as forecast, it will mark the first three consecutive years of growth since 2005 to 2007.
The EIA also predicts that solar’s share of US generation will rise from 5% in 2024 to 8% in 2026, driven by a 45% increase in solar generating capacity. Meanwhile, the share of natural gas in generation is expected to decline from 43% in 2024 to 39% in 2026 due to rising natural gas prices.
Coal’s share will drop from 16% in 2024 and 2025 to 15% in 2026, with renewable energy output continuing to grow. Renewable generation’s percentage is forecast to increase from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026. Nuclear power’s share is projected to remain stable at 19% for both 2025 and 2026.
The EIA’s forecast for 2025 also includes power sales of 1,524 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,458 billion kWh for commercial customers, and 1,054 billion kWh for industrial customers. These figures compare to all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,421 billion kWh for commercial customers in 2024, and 1,064 billion kWh for industrial customers in 2000.