Is the AI Boom Leading to More Natural Gas-Powered Utilities?

New power plants burning natural gas are being built all across America, reports the Washington Post, calling it a gas boom 'driven in large part by AI.'

They blame tech companies like Microsoft and Meta — which 'looked to gas amid a shortage of adequate new clean energy' — while noting that those companies 'say they plan to offset their development of natural gas capacity with equal investments in clean energy like solar and wind.'
[E]ven coal is making a comeback. But the biggest push is for gas, with more than 220 plants in various stages of development nationwide. They are often pitched as a bridge until more clean power is available, sometimes with promises the plants will eventually be equipped with nascent technology that traps greenhouse gas emissions. But the timeline for installing such 'carbon capture' is vague. 'These companies are building these massive new gas plants that are going to be there for 30 to 50 years,' said Bill Weihl, a former director of sustainability at Facebook and founder of the nonprofit ClimateVoice. 'That's not a bridge. It is a giant bomb in our carbon budget....'

Public filings from some of the big tech companies driving this development show their greenhouse gas emissions are soaring... 'The last few years have revealed that a global energy transition is more complex and less linear than anticipated,' Microsoft's board wrote in urging rejection of a December shareholder resolution demanding the company confront the climate risks of AI. 'While urgency builds for decarbonization, so does the demand for energy.'

Shareholders rejected the resolution. Microsoft is battling with environmental groups over its plans to build a multibillion-dollar data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, powered with electricity from natural gas. Their petition warns Microsoft's project 'will push our state's climate goals out of reach, locking us into 30 more years of fossil fuels.' The company said in a statement that it remains committed to erasing its emissions by adding substantial clean power to regional power grids. 'By the end of 2025 we expect to meet our goal of adding new sources of carbon-free electricity to the grid equal to 100 percent of the electricity used by our datacenters,' the statement said.
Meta says it is doing the same in Louisiana [where it's building a new 4-million-square-foot data center] and is 'committed to matching our electricity use with 100 percent clean and renewable energy.'
The article includes two revealing quotes:

'It is like everyone just gave up,' said Aaron Zubaty, CEO of Eolian, a large clean energy developer that works with data centers.
American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers (who represents the oil and gas industry in Washington), said 'The words that have replaced 'energy transition' are 'AI' and 'data centers'. We're transitioning from the energy transition to the energy reality... We're going to need a lot more oil and gas.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.