How We'll Meet Rising Energy Demand
The challenge ahead is clear: Energy demand is growing at an unprecedented rate, and it will take pragmatic innovation to meet it.
At IGS Energy, we think in decades, and we know that making the transition to an energy future in which generation is both cleaner and more reliable won’t happen overnight. But taking these steps together can get us there.
How we got here
Over the past decade, electricity demand has been relatively flat. During this time, we’ve experienced a gradual shift in our generation mix with the retirement of older coal and gas generation and the addition of newer, more efficient natural gas plants and renewable energy generation. When we compare this period to what’s projected to unfold over the next 10 years, this period has been relatively calm.
The recent increase in electricity demand is due to several factors, most notably: widespread electrification efforts, the reshoring of manufacturing in the U.S., and the buildout of data centers to support, primarily, the increasing use of AI. There’s strong consensus that electric demand will continue to rise; the only major disagreement is around how high and how quickly.
As this upward trend continues, we should anticipate both a strain on the power grid and higher energy prices — at least in the short term — until more generation is built out. To support customers, generation will need to increase significantly — with a diverse array of new generation sources and innovative energy solutions all playing a part.
How the industry will meet rising energy demand
We can meet rising energy demand, but it will require us to consider new approaches. Here’s where we’ll need to focus to meet rising energy demand:
Natural gas
Natural gas is back in favor and will play a much larger role under the current administration. It’s likely that new natural gas generation plants will be built near large AI data centers, bypassing the grid altogether.
Rooftop solar
Making solar power more accessible still presents a big opportunity, and rooftop or distributed solar has several advantages over utility-scale solar. Rooftop solar bypasses long interconnect queues, doesn’t waste valuable land, and, when paired with a battery, can act as backup power supply. IGS Energy currently manages more than 40,000 residential solar systems, and we’re poised to expand this to meet the forecasted growing demand.
Grid services
As the grid becomes even more stressed, supporting customers with solutions that give them more power over their energy usage will be critical. Here are a few solutions we’ve designed to meet this challenge:
- Sync: IGS Energy’s Sync technology turns a standard water heater into a smart one by coordinating the heating of water with the needs of the power grid in the moment. By pairing data (the habits of a household to predict future hot water needs and real-time information from the grid), we can reduce grid strain while ensuring customers still receive the energy needed to power their hot water heaters.
- Demand response: This is an incentive program that encourages commercial energy customers to reduce or shift electricity use when demand (and the price of power) is high. The approach offers both a smart way to balance the power grid and an opportunity for customers to get paid for reducing their usage during demand response events.
Looking ahead, we see an opportunity for remote management of consumers’ home batteries (to support rooftop solar), their EV charging, and their hot water tanks — to more efficiently manage use of the electrical grid. Ultimately, if we can manage the energy of one house, we can manage the energy of many homes and businesses.
Nuclear power generation
We view nuclear, including micronuclear, as a major opportunity for the industry, and support doubling nuclear generation to help us meet growing energy demand. Nuclear offers a highly effective way to generate power without carbon emissions.
Renewable natural gas
Investing in renewable natural gas (RNG) produced through landfills, dairy farms, and other means, is another small way we can leverage the existing natural gas infrastructure in the U.S. to create fuels from sources that currently create no value. At IGS Energy, we’re working with small dairy farmers to turn their farms’ manure byproduct into a useable fuel. And by doing so, we’re helping farmers manage and reduce their methane emissions while sharing in the financial benefit.
What’s next
We know meeting energy demand is a major challenge the entire world is facing — and it’s going to take specific steps for us to meet this challenge. But we’re optimistic about the opportunities ahead.