AI Is Changing Everything, Is Your Grid Ready?

This past February, at the AI Action Summit in Paris, France, Google CEO Sundar Pichai even remarked: “Part of advancing the field has meant building the foundational infrastructure.” And this work is still ongoing. As AI-first mandates take hold in government and enterprise alike, the gap between digital ambition and physical infrastructure is growing wider. Goldman Sachs reported that AI is poised to drive 160% of data center power demand by 2030. In the face of this mounting pressure, the power sector finds itself at a crossroads: How do we ensure our energy infrastructure can support the operational future we’re building toward?

The answer lies in solving a long-standing challenge: America’s aging energy infrastructure. The grid that powers our homes, hospitals, data centers, and transportation systems was built for an era of the past. Now, with AI rapidly accelerating the pace of energy consumption, the need to upgrade this foundation is urgent.

There are two paths forward: upgrade the existing infrastructure, or invest in new, resilient systems from the ground up. In order to achieve the most sustainable and resilient future, it is essential to pursue both strategies. Upgrading the current infrastructure will ensure that the value of existing assets is maximized, while investing in new systems will provide the innovation, diversification, and adaptability needed to face future challenges. Combining these approaches will create a balanced and forward-thinking strategy that supports long-term growth and stability.

Inaction… But at What Cost?

Let’s begin with the stakes. In 2025 alone, power outages disrupted many critical operations. Top examples that come to mind include the massive power outage at Heathrow Airport in March 2025 due to a fire at an electrical substation in London. Similarly, U.S. Military bases also experienced issues with infrastructure.  An additional striking example occurred at Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) Los Alamitos. Earlier in the year a foil balloon led to a power surge and outage. Fortunately, the site, which serves as a hub for over 6,000 National Guard and Reserve troops had a military-grade microgrid in place. Within thirty seconds, the base seamlessly “islanded” from the grid and powered itself independently, thanks to a blend of solar, battery storage, and engine generators.

And this isn’t simply a successful defense story,it’s a blueprint. For hospitals, airports, water treatment facilities, and more, the margin of error is very thin and could lead to serious ramifications.  A few seconds or minutes of lost power could mean delayed care, disrupted surgeries, missed flights, compromised security, derailed operations, and major community risks. Now, add in AI’s massive electricity demands, from data centers to smart diagnostics,and the load only increases.

According to RAND, AI-driven workloads could require up to 68 gigawatts (GW) of additional power in the U.S. by 2027. For comparison, California’s entire grid capacity hovers around 88 GW. The pressure is clear: we need smarter, more resilient energy systems and infrastructure.

Option One: Upgrade What We Have

Modernizing existing infrastructure is increasingly becoming the focus of many utilities and municipalities. This includes retrofitting substations, replacing transformers, and enhancing transmission networks. These upgrades are essential to our future. They reduce vulnerability, allow for better load balancing, and extend the life of existing assets.

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart grid controls, and AI-enabled predictive maintenance are helping utilities detect and resolve issues before they result in failure. Layering these solutions into legacy systems helps close the resilience gap without requiring a full teardown.

However, the challenge is scalability. Incremental upgrades can only take us so far, especially in communities where the grid was never designed to handle today’s digital demands. That’s where new infrastructure becomes crucial.

Option Two: Build Resilience from the Ground Up

For mission-critical organizations, building entirely new infrastructure, like microgrids, on-site renewables, and distributed energy resources (DERs) offers a path to energy independence. JFTB is a model for this second approach. Its microgrid operates autonomously when needed, with solar PV providing daytime power, batteries offering overnight backup, and generators serving as the last line of defense. The result is uninterrupted operations, regardless of what’s happening on the main grid.

These systems aren’t just safety nets—they’re economic engines. Through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), organizations can sell excess energy back to the grid. They can also provide grid services, turning resilience into revenue. For example, JFTB sells electricity into the wholesale market. Similarly, projects such as the Kūpono Solar Project on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam deliver 42 MW of clean energy to Oʻahu’s grid as well.

Both examples show how public-private partnerships are crucial to resilience. In this way, the power sector can offer not only the technical and financial backing to build these systems, but also the operational oversight to keep them running well, which is good for all parties involved. Through continuous performance monitoring and interconnection with utility data, DERs can adapt to shifting demand and weather conditions in real-time further enhancing their value and improving resilience for all.

Policy and Collaboration Need to Go Hand in Hand

To scale these solutions, we need policy alignment and cross-sector collaboration. Many local governments are still navigating through permitting hurdles, utility interconnection delays, and financial barriers, which makes the process challenging. However, with the right incentives, such as federal resilience funding, energy tax credits, and flexible regulatory frameworks, we can accelerate deployment.

The Energy Department’s recent push toward grid modernization, including its Liftoff Reports and support for microgrid development, is a good sign. Still, more can be done to align national energy policy with the needs of AI-powered infrastructure.

A Call to Action

The power sector is becoming less of a background player and more of an MVP of national progress. As AI adoption reshapes how we work, heal, travel, and govern, our energy systems must evolve in parallel. Waiting until after a blackout or infrastructure failure is no longer an option.

Energy resilience must become as foundational as cybersecurity. And that resilience starts with a dual-track approach: upgrading what we have and building what we need. By working together (utilities, technology providers, mission-critical organizations, and government agencies) we can ensure that the grid of tomorrow is ready not just for AI, but for the demands of a smarter, safer, and more connected world. 

# Originally published on Environment + Energy Leader #