Article excerpts:

“The electricity demands of new data centers are so great that electricity supply and demand "is one of the biggest issues" facing agriculture and rural America, Thomas Halverson, the president and CEO of Colorado-based CoBank, said here last week.

In a speech to the International Dairy Food Association's Dairy Forum, Halverson told dairy processors they should "pay attention" to the electricity issue.

Showing a map, Halverson said one area with the largest mismatch between electricity supply and demand is the Midwest. The map is part of CoBank and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reports on the subject.

"A large section of the Midwest will start to see capacity shortfalls as early as 2025. Other regions have a longer runway, but are still at risk through 2034," Halverson pointed out in a LinkedIn post.

Until recently, electricity has operated on flat demand for decades, Halverson said. "2024 wasn't much different than 2010, even though population and economy have grown."

Link to article: HERE