Cspan, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. The Senate Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee Held a hearing on the challenges associated with growing demand for electric power in the United States. The witnesses outlined the potential cost and security risks of retiring natural gas plants too soon and called for a balanced approach that included nuclear and Renewable Energy sources. This runs an hour and 45 minutes. Today we ask you to discuss the risk of opportunities. In the halfcentury after world war ii, demand for electricity grew along with our economy, but in the decade following, the implementation of the freetrade agreement, which was in the 1990s, annual electricity demand growth fell by nearly 45 . 45 . For the past two decades, the demand and load has been flat across the country. We are here today because that appears to be coming to an end rapidly. With exponential growth, utility and grid experts are telling us that it is poised for truly remarkable growth. Meeting the demand growth may be one of the greatest challenges we face. Our economy and defense of our country i want to thank the witnesses for sharing their perspective on what is at stake. Low growth is being driven by three main factors as we evaluate. The reassuring by bipartisan infrastructure, the chips act and ira. They signed these bills into law. This is unbelievable. People did not realize how much is coming into the u. S. And that tells you the energy that we need and what we do not have. The eu has been flat as a pancake. Here we are. We are seeing new factors to build Semiconductor Technology on most every week. The revolution and advanced computing calculations, especially Artificial Intelligence to provide the process needed for those technologies. I understand they have an unquenchable thirst for power. Third, it is the push to electrify technology across the sector. I think they are way over on. I have been warning them from day one. The north american Liability Corporation projects longterm reliability that there will be 90 gigawatts of demand growth. Put that into perspective. Over 10 of the electrical demand about 750 gigawatts. Even that number is likely conservative. The forecast keeps growing unbelievably faster than what they can keep up with. Last month, the texas grid operator revised its 2030 forecast from last year to add 40 gigawatts of new expected though growth. That is like adding the entire state of california to the texas grade. That should be a wakeup call. I hope it is. We need to be prepared to meet the demand. It is an opportunity and it is ours to lose. The reason we have the growth is that industries that would define the 21st century are tripping over one another to build and are coming from all over the world. There is no guarantee of success. We cannot be open for business if we cannot keep the lights on. If america cannot build the infrastructure needed, we will be forfeiting the opportunity and concede control to china and other nations that we cannot necessarily trust. Between the administrations, policy and our inability to act in congress, it seems like we may be in danger of doing that. We have heard that our grid reliability and affordability are at risk because we are retiring he slowed dispensable faster than we can replace it. They came to speak with me and told me, youre taking off dispensable 24 7 24 7, whether it be nuclear or whatever we are depending on the Environmental Movement and trying to replace it with intermittent power, they are very concerned across the board. The assessment came out last week. These are brandnew numbers and show half the country at elevated risk. If you represent one of these areas, tell them to watch out. They will be in trouble. That should be consenting to everybody in this administration and every senator and congressperson who represents those areas. Last july, they added an Energy Policy as a brandnew category facing our grade. When they say the policy were putting out in washington is putting at putting us at risk , take heed. As if to prove the point, the epa filed license for new powerplant rules. As far as i can tell, pained to stop natural gas from the placing it. It is a double vanity. I do not know what they are thinking. I sent this to them. The transition is going to happen. But you cannot take something off before you have something equally good if not better to replace it with. We have been doing it better than anyplace else in the world. The transition is there. No one is fighting the transition, just give us the jobs to take care of our family and make a living. We do not have the technology yet. We are not there. They are doing it because of the political reasons. That is what we are trying to make them understand. It is not going to work. These dispensable resources we having serious about on showing critical energy. They would not be in the race to take power offline. Instead, get it it is getting harder and harder. It just is. We now have 2. 6 megawatt hours waiting in average. 2. 6 million megawatt hours ready to go and nowhere to go with. West virginia, we have one plant over 1800 megawatts with Carbon Capture. The cleanest it could possibly be but the company is saying they had to wait half a decade before they even get the green light to start the committee. It is unbelievable. And to be clear, these are not just problems for fossil plants. It has been equally or even worse for wind. This is how far it has gone down. There is no way to connect. Solar is doing better because solar can get into the grid system faster. It is in areas where it is already there. They cannot get permitting. If the majority leader believes that what was done cured all the problems, i have news. It did not do it. They just published, as you can see. We are on pace to install less wind 2024 than we did in the great recession. There was a recession and now we are down here. We have to make it easier to build pipelines to meet moment. Last week, they may help build new transmission. They are not a replacement for action. These rules help with one aspect. I know you looked into this, but as my friend said, it is a bandaid on congress in action. For example, the new rules took place within regions. Transmission lines already in the region not interregional lines that truly have the most benefits to offer. It did not affect them at all. They are all going to be challenged. I want to quote commissioner clemens. She said she is retiring in june. Work needs to be done. For some of these next steps with planning reform, congressional action could be critical providing direction and momentum. Just that we are clear, that legislation is not person let me quote a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who served in the white house during the trump administration. He said transmission expansion has only become more difficult. These are problems only congress can solve. They are critical permitting problems for all kinds of infrastructure but only we are committed to addressing that. Myself and the team have been working diligently for quite a while. We will start sharing language with everyone so that people can see where we are. Witnesses before us today submitted technology in stark terms. With this i will terms Ranking Member. The demand for electricity is expected to grow rapidly. Maybe entering sustained growth unlike anything we have seen since world war ii. We cannot be open for business if we cannot keep the lights on. Data centers enable Bitcoin Mining and Artificial Intelligence. How we meet this growing demand for electricity will have serious economic and security consequences for our nation. The stakes could not be higher. It will be more consequential than space space. The ai base has already begun. They consume massive amounts of electricity. Some suggest electricity demand for the data centers will double between now and china or america will have a big head start in the race for Artificial Intelligence. Right now, we are not positioned well. They have raised alarm over reliability. The premature retirement of power plants has increased risk for lack outs and brownouts in much of the country. President biden is making the situation worse. These play a major role in reliability. They help to make it more affordable. He wants the cost to be high. He wants to force operators to shut down for the end. It is a disgrace. When it comes to data centers, the quality of the source is as important as the quantity generated. They are weather dependent. Batteries are expensive. They require vast amounts of we need a reliable, steady and balanced supply of electricity. Nuclear, coal, hydropower. With demand poised to surge, it only makes sense to keep existing plants operating while thing new generating capacity. Our goal should be an issue and not subtraction. It was the american century. Much depends on how america capitalizes. The opposition to hydropower. It is a surrender to china. This chart shows that china has added coalfired electric generation. Meanwhile, the u. S. Has shut down over 100 gigawatts. What does this mean . It means that when chinas developers that the Chinese Communist party will make absolutely sure that they will get it. They will get it. When the Ai Developers need power, it will be reliable and affordable. The race Artificial Intelligence is one that america cannot afford to lose. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to turn to our panel of witnesses. The interim ceo, one of our facilities in West Virginia. Good to have you here. Im side. The president and ceo of the resource council. We have mr. Scott, Corporate Vice president at micron technologies. We have mr. Martin hills back again. At this time, i will turn to my friend the senator. I appreciate that. Thank you both of you for holding what is an important hearing today. It covers a lot of ground and underscores some shortcomings that we have that we can address. It is my privilege to introduce to you, Micron Technology was founded in idaho and they had a humble beginning, to say the least. It has grown to become one of the top Semi Conductor companies in the world. It continues to drive the companys advanced memory and storage technologies. They had given the u. S. A Competitive Edge in supercomputing. All is not well the Semiconductor Industry. Those of us that serve on Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committee and work the National Security lien have heard over and over again the shortcomings of the Semiconductor Industry. It was driven by this my conductor industry following the siren of chief wages and moving production offshore. This has caused us some difficulties and it is very much the National Security problem. With Semi Conductors, i think everyone is aware, no one more than the Defense Industry and contractors how important microchips are, Semi Conductors are in the construction of certain products. They are in everything from refrigerators to tvs and automobiles, but they are also in just about everything that we manufacture. Thus, what those of us who saw this came up with the chips act, in addition to our budget to simulate bringing this industry back to the u. S. This was not driven by a desire to subsidize the Semiconductor Industry. It was designed to be a great challenge in Semiconductor Production and close the gap on National Security. It appears to me that it is working. We thought it would. No one knows until you actually try it, but now, this is actually happening. The Company Recently broke ground and has plans to build additional nationwide. Within 25 use of experience in operations and technology development. The leading expert on domestic expansion. He is position to offer a unique perspective. Returning the Semiconductor Industry to the u. S. It is no accident that Companies Like micron continue to invest in idaho. They are in support of clean and affordable. That makes it a prime location. This issue of National Security and semiconductors fits very well with the subject that we are talking about today because it does demand a tremendous amount of energy. I think you did a really good job of underscoring what the experts are telling us that we will need for energy in the future. Thank you for being here today and we look forward to hearing your testimony. I know you have an Important Committee that you have to be involved with, coming up. Im sure scott will get you uptodate as quickly as possible. Lets start with our testimonies. Thank you for the invitation to testify. I serve as interim ceo. Aep is one of the largest u. S. , serving customers across our footprint. We own and operate the largest Transmission System in the u. S. This is a significant moment for our country, our industry and our company. We are excited about the opportunities and challenges ahead of us as we meet the growing demand in our communities. We are beginning to see this trend reverse. Others require a significant amount of power. The effort to support the development of these businesses have been remarkably successful. Companies are growing because we have an abundant and diverse resource. In some areas of the country, demand for electricity is growing faster than available capacity. A largescale manufacturing facility might require 100 megawatt. A facility that size would be one of a kind, a major source of activity for the. Nowadays, tracing Data Center Tour will require 15 about the power. Power demand from Data Processing is expected to double nationwide in three years. One example of this demand surge, Openai Chatgpt requires what hours for request. They have currently requested more than doubling the demand that we serve on our system today. It took over 100 years to create our current system. Investment on an accelerated timeframe will be required to serve a fraction in a reliable manner. As demand is increasing, our electricity system is accommodating new forms of energy. It must not overtake the reliability needs. They are steadily increasing. Our Society Depends on a reliable system. Customers need an Energy System that is available to deliver affordable and environmentally Sensitive Information where they need it. It must be a priority. We need to think bigger to address many opportunities and challenges in front of us. We ask that Congress Prevent this is the impact that could hasten the pace of retirement and diminish reliability. Evaluating the establishment of the Planning Authority focused on authority and ensuring that reliability mechanisms are in place. Congress should expedite clean resources to meet consume it to meet the to meet demand. Encouraging the development of advanced technologies and citing a package for critical infrastructure. The Nuclear Tax Credit for customers. Encouraging efforts for the Efficient Development to ensure reliability and accommodate development. It will play a crucial role in helping with advanced manufacturing. We can serve and secure americas role for generations to come. We will quickly build new sources to deliver electricity where it is needed. Distinguished members of this committee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. My name is karen. It is the trade association. Our mission is to ensure that we have reliable and affordable power, so we support the adoption of coordinated policy to ensure that reliability at low cost. The purpose of my testimony today is to represent the industrial sector as one of the drivers that we are speaking of today. After decades of decline in manufacturing, domestic manufacturing is seeing a resurgence. According to a recent report, the number of manufacturing facilities grew by over 11 between the First Quarter of 2019 and the Second Quarter of 2023. Construction spending on manufacturing has nearly tripled since june 2020. It was up 37 yearoveryear in january 2024, when Construction Spending reached a high of the industrial sector is projected to add 36 gigawatts of additional power by 2030. Bringing manufacturing back to u. S. Shores has many implications and benefits. This is bringing investment to communities that have been neglected in the past, bringing thousands of jobs whether that be through construction, the permanent jobs to run the operations and manufacturing and the secondary jobs to support those workers including retail and food and housing. According to the National Association of manufacturers, the industrial sector contributed at a yearly rate, 2. 9 trillion dollars to the u. S. Economy. Thats in the Third Quarter of 2023 and it p