Reuters
U.S. electrical systems are not expanding fast enough to meet rapidly growing power needs of technology like Generative AI, prompting data center businesses to sometimes bypass utilities, executives said at an energy conference this week. Layers of regulations, citing and permitting processes, and frequent legal fights brought by environmental and community groups, have slowed new power projects from connecting to the grid, and posed a threat to profits by traditional power companies like regulated electric utilities. "Regulation and permitting within the United States is abysmal," Brad Stansberry, who leads the financial management practice for the power and utility industry at services firm KPMG, said at the AI: Powering the New Energy Era summit in Washington on Wednesday.