Study: AI growth requires huge electric grid upgrades

Image credit: Pete Linforth via Pixabay. Article by Jana Rose Schleis. KBIA – August 24, 2026.

A new federal report shows the electric grid across much of the country is strained, requiring thousands of miles of new power lines and billions of dollars in investments. The National Transmission Needs Study shows that approximately 4,000 miles of powerlines will need to be replaced each year for the next few decades. The federal report notes that most of the country’s transmission infrastructure was built in the 1960s and ’70s and is now reaching the end of its useful life and that currently, “operational challenges of the electric grid are evolving in complexity and magnitude.” […]

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