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U.S. electricity demand grew at well below 1% per year for over two decades.

2026-08-04 · 20:30 UTC ·@a16z ·0 min read

Brief

Base Power & the Future of Electricity by @espricewright and @mikemcg0 states that after more than 20 years of sub‑1% annual growth in U.S. electricity demand, grid planners now project a sharp shift to 5.7% annual growth from 2025–2030 driven by data centers, new factories, and electric vehicles, implying major implications for capacity, storage, and grid planning.

Why it matters

U.S. electricity demand grew at well below 1% per year for over two decades.

Key details

  • Utility grid planners are projecting energy usage will increase at 5.7% per year from 2025 to 2030 due to combined load from data centers, new factories, and electric vehicles.
  • The analysis appears in a16z's 'Base Power & the Future of Electricity' by @espricewright and @mikemcg0 (published 2026-08-04 20:30:02+00:00; a16z.news/p/base-power-and-t…).
Cleaned source text

"For over two decades, U.S. electricity demand grew at well below 1% per year. But data centers, new factories, and electric cars are all arriving at once, and utility grid planners are now projecting energy usage will increase at a rate of 5.7% per year from 2025 to 2030."

Base Power & the Future of Electricity, by @espricewright & @mikemcg0: a16z.news/p/base-power-and-t…

a16z (@a16z)

Article

Base Power & the Future of Electricity

By @espricewright & @mikemcg0

In 2018, Zach Dell was a summer analyst at Blackstone studying the utility-scale battery opportunity. “One thing became really clear to me,” he recalls. “The marginal

— https://nitter.net/a16z/status/2084679526311968792#m