Experts tell House panel AI will sharply raise U.S. power needs; bipartisan fixes urged on permitting, transmission and incentives

A panel of industry executives, former energy officials and AI experts told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that rapid advances in artificial intelligence are already reshaping electricity demand and that Congress must act to ensure reliable, affordable power.

At a full committee hearing, witnesses said AI training and data-center growth will require major new generation and transmission capacity and that permitting delays and policy uncertainty threaten U.S. competitiveness. ‘‘The AI revolution is under hyped,’’ said Eric Schmidt, chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, warning that next‑generation AI will need far more computation and therefore far more energy.

The testimony laid out three broad, near-term priorities: preserve and accelerate federal incentives and grants that reduce the cost of new generation; reform permitting and interconnection rules to move new generation and transmission faster; and take an "all‑of‑the‑above" approach to supply — including renewables plus dispatchable sources such as natural gas, advanced nuclear and other emerging technologies.

Why it matters: Witnesses said the size and speed of the change is unlike previous IT cycles. Schmidt and others compared the scale of projected data‑center builds to large power plants and said the government must act to avoid giving competitors an edge. ‘‘These things are industrial at a scale I have never seen in my life,’’ Schmidt said, framing the energy challenge as central to U.S. AI leadership.

Key testimony and figures - Eric Schmidt: Schmidt told members that data centers and advanced AI systems will require ‘‘a lot more energy’’ than earlier generations of digital infrastructure. He cited estimates — presented as industry projections at the hearing — that data-center demand could add roughly 29 gigawatts by 2027 and tens of additional gigawatts by 2030, and said some planners envision very large single projects measured in multiple gigawatts. - David Turk: David Turk, a former deputy energy secretary and visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, cited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory figures and said data centers consumed about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could rise to between roughly 6.7% and 12% by 2028. Turk urged Congress to retain tax credits, grants and loan programs that help bring new capacity online quickly. - Manish Bhatia (Micron): Bhatia said each full-scale semiconductor fab will run ‘‘24 by 7 by 365’’ and consume roughly 400 megawatts at full buildout; Micron projects U.S. demand from its facilities could reach roughly 2 gigawatts by 2040. He described how brief power interruptions or voltage sags can produce tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for semiconductor plants.

Permitting, transmission and interconnection Committee members and witnesses repeatedly returned to permitting and interconnection delays. Multiple witnesses said the time required to permit generation and build transmission can be measured in years or decades, and they urged congressional action to streamline overlapping federal and state requirements. Turk and industry witnesses pointed to bipartisan permitting reform proposals as a basis for faster project delivery.

Policy uncertainty and incentives Witnesses warned that rollbacks of federal incentives would raise costs and delay projects. Turk and others said the technology‑neutral production and investment credits, grants and loan programs enacted in recent years are central to quickly adding supply; they warned that repeal or uncertainty would chill investment and raise household energy bills in the near term.

Privacy, workforce and national security connections Alongside energy questions, witnesses and members stressed that keeping AI development in the United States depends not only on power but also on data policy, workforce immigration, and national security guardrails. Several witnesses recommended stronger federal coordination on data access, NIST‑led measurement science and leveraging national labs for red teaming and safety evaluation.

What lawmakers asked for Members from both parties pressed for bipartisan, durable solutions: faster transmission permitting, clearer interconnection rules, more predictable federal incentives, and coordinated approaches to siting and rights‑of‑way. Several members urged preserving existing dispatchable generation where feasible while rapidly adding both renewables-plus-storage and dispatchable capacity.

Outlook Panelists urged swift congressional action to match the speed of private investment. ‘‘If this committee gets it right, America will win,’’ Schmidt said. Members signaled interest in working across the aisle on permitting and grid modernization even as they debated energy choices and trade policies.

Ending note Witnesses cautioned that the energy challenge is immediate but solvable with coordinated federal policy, streamlined permitting and predictable incentives that encourage private investment while protecting consumers and the environment.