r/energy

In this video, I speak through how China moved from a country struggling with smog to become the “OPEC of renewable energy.”

Is it too early to take a stance?

For years, the American power grid was a bastion of predictable stability. Throughout the 2010s, U.S. electricity demand remained flat as efficiency gains and declines in energy-intensive sectors such as manufacturing helped obscure the dawning digital age.

But the power grid as it once was might be no match for the technological demands of the 2020s. Retail electricity prices have soared in recent years, an increase fast outpacing inflation over the same period, in part due to the rising power costs associated with the artificial intelligence-driven infrastructure boom. Electricity costs have been one of the factors fueling the recent nosedive AI has taken in public polling, and a new study suggests residential utility pain tied to the technology needs of this decade might be just getting started.

Between 2018 and 2023, the share represented by data centers in total U.S. electricity use rose from 1.9% to 4.4%, according to a study published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters. 

By the end of the decade, the national average wholesale electricity cost could rise between 6% and 29%, according to the study, which modeled several different energy use scenarios based on existing power demand forecasts. This increase in utility prices is primarily tied to data center expansion, with cryptocurrency mining also included in the modeling of higher costs. 

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/05/19/data-centers-electricity-costs-us-public-opinion/?utm_source=reddit/

I’m looking for thoughts on a soup to nuts system in northern Maine grid tied.
This would be the biggest I’ve attempted.

• For those working in upstream — what's the biggest gap in affordable data tools for small/mid-size companies?                                                                               
• Anyone switched away from Enverus to something cheaper? What did you move to?

If you guys think there's another subreddit better posed for these questions, please let me know!

Am 25. und 26. April hat Deutschland das europäische Ausland dafür bezahlt, unseren Strom abzunehmen, mit bis zu 414 € pro MWh. Ganze 14 Stunden lang.

Die bequeme Ausrede lautet oft: „Zu viel Solarstrom am Wochenende.“ Doch das ist falsch. Wir haben kein Erzeugungsproblem.

Während wir am Sonntag Millionen zahlen, um Strom loszuwerden, muss die deutsche Industrie ihn an Werktagen teuer einkaufen. Der Preisunterschied liegt bei über 600 €/MWh innerhalb von nur 48 Stunden.

Die bittere Wahrheit: Diese extremen Kosten lassen sich durch den Ausbau des Speichernetzwerkes vermeiden.

Die 95.659 MWh, die wir am Wochenende teuer exportiert haben, landeten in den Batterieparks unserer Nachbarn. Aus deutschem Negativpreis-Strom wird so direkt ein ausländischer Wettbewerbsvorteil.

https://preview.redd.it/yntzfzbgb22h1.png?width=1090&format=png&auto=webp&s=c76faa5c04220eb67cc942704211aa9552d38562

The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has caused the largest global energy-supply shock ever: Some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows have been cut off at the Strait of Hormuz.

From gas rationing in Bangladesh, to farmers in Africa without fertilizer, to Americans struggling to afford filling their gas tanks, the supply-chain bottleneck is affecting every part of the world. But while an end to the current crisis is inevitable, its ripple effects will be shaking up the geopolitical and energy landscape long after it’s over.

One thing is not going to change: global energy usage. Power demand is rising by close to 4% a year, driven by growing populations, more electrification, and the AI data center boom. The worldwide energy feast will only grow, even as the recipes and cooks evolve.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/05/19/us-israel-iran-war-energy-gas-prices-coal-oil/?utm_source=reddit/