The Trump administration is taking new steps to try and secure America‘s power grid.
President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to Secure America’s Bulk-Power System
The Trump White House is calling it a national emergency. America‘s aging power grid could have to look elsewhere for upgrades after a new executive order signed by the president could prohibit foreign power equipment from being used within the United States. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been talking about making America‘s power grid a priority for months, especially when it comes to powering artificial intelligence and data centers.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Energy for AI
What’s the most important source of energy for AI? Electricity. So we have to fix… this just bureaucratic and complex power grid so that it can grow fast. It can grow like our primary energy production and it can keep up with AI. If we don’t do that, we’re going to slow down AI.
The Trump executive order would give the Energy Department the ability to block transactions involving foreign equipment from adversarial countries. It also looks at existing equipment for security threats where a foreign actor could theoretically use malware to attack America‘s power grid. The executive order doesn’t specifically name China, but the Asian superpower is a global leader in manufacturing power equipment.
Yuri Dvorkin – Johns Hopkins University
“That is a long overdue action, and actually the Trump administration, as well as the previous one, are to be commended for taking this decisive action because for a long time, the security threat has been real.”
Johns Hopkins University energy expert Yuri Dvorkin says there’s a big gap between supply and demand of America‘s power grid technology. Hopefully Trump‘s executive order incentivizes more onshore production, especially as tech companies are prepared to pay large premiums in order to advance their data center ambitions.
“At the end of the day, what we want to make sure is that we have enough electricity on America‘s power grid to support our economic activity and well-being of our people.”
Countdown for the Energy Department
The Energy Department now has 120 days to turn the executive order into actual rules that will give energy companies more clarity on who they can and can’t do business with. Reporting in Washington, I’m Matt Gelka.
White House – President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to Secure America’s Bulk-Power System
White House Executive Order Link
