You know that there’s a nuclear renaissance brewing, and that gas turbine producers are ramping up capacity to fill demand. The world needs more energy, and according to Akshat Rathi and Marilen Martin at Bloomberg, power scarcity is a bottleneck for the whole global economy. They write:
In Europe and the US, electricity demand has been virtually flat or falling over the last two decades, but BloombergNEF’s economic transition scenario sees it rising by more than 40% over the next two decades.
A study found that unless the Dutch grid is strengthened more quickly, it could cost the country between €8 billion and €30 billion in lost economic activity and missed sustainability benefits annually—or as much as €1,800 per person per year. In Germany, local business associations warn that the lack of secure and fast electricity supply is a threat to Germany’s industrial economy. In the UK, grid operators paid £1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) so far this year for higher-cost gas plants to run and switched off cheaper wind turbines in the north that weren’t connected to the consumption centers with enough grid capacity.
The demand in these regions will primarily be driven by AI data centers and electric cars. Big tech companies are already warning that, if a country’s grid is not ready, they will have to redirect investments to the countries where they are.
The lack of access to power was one of the reasons why Google canceled plans for a data center near Berlin earlier this year. A Frankfurt data center isn’t able to expand because utilities cannot provide sufficient power until 2033. Electricity shortages have led Microsoft to move data center investments away from Ireland and the UK toward the Nordics.
Even in the heart of Silicon Valley, data centers cannot start operating because the local utility in Santa Clara is not able to provide enough power. A data center that Digital Reality Trust Inc. applied to build in 2019 may continue sitting empty for years.
“Failure to expand electricity supply quickly could make it impossible to realize the full potential of cutting-edge tech,” said Mavroeidi.Industry surveys echo this. Around 72% of executives in Deloitte’s 2025 AI Infrastructure Survey cite grid capacity as a “very” or “extremely” challenging constraint. Another major survey finds more than 90% of developers view grid limits as the biggest obstacle to data centre projects.
Action Line: Without more power, global GDP growth could suffer. The Trump administration has been working hard through the EPA and the Department of Energy to make more power available to American industry. But these reforms must be carried forward by future administrations, or the progress made is at risk. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
