States are struggling to meet their clean energy goals. Blame data centers

Key Points:

• Utilities nationwide face challenges balancing the surging electricity demand from AI data centers with long-term goals to transition to renewable and zero-carbon energy sources.
• In North Carolina, the largest utility is delaying coal plant retirements and increasing natural gas plant construction, amid legislative removal of interim carbon emission reduction goals, raising environmental concerns.
• Nevada, a rapidly growing data center market due to favorable tax policies, is debating regulations to balance clean energy goals with economic benefits, while some data centers like Switch are investing heavily in their own renewable energy sources.
• Many utilities and tech companies continue to rely on gas-fired generation and diesel backup generators for data centers, sparking environmental and community concerns over air quality, noise, water supply, and energy costs.
• Nevada’s NV Energy uses a voluntary funding model for clean energy development linked to data centers, but lawmakers and environmental groups call for mandatory clean energy commitments to prevent increased fossil fuel dependency and protect the state’s renewable energy portfolio.