NextEra, the largest wind and solar developer in the United States, expects demand growth rates for electricity to soar in order to keep up with artificial intelligence, electrification, cloud capacity and chip factories。

John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy, said at the S & P CERAWeek energy conference in Houston on Monday: "Today, with years of relatively flat electricity demand, growth is expected to reach 81% over the next five years.。"

About a year ago, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated in its long-term annual outlook that electricity demand would grow at an annual rate of less than 1 percent.。NextEra estimates that this ratio will increase to approximately 1.8%。This sharp increase in growth rates could further increase the pressure on electricity networks already stressed by extreme temperatures and the effects of climate change.。

According to Ketchum, renewable energy generation is expected to triple or more - to 370 to 450 gigawatts (GW).。To meet this demand, NextEra has developed a system to identify location options for new data centers based on solar and wind resources and access points to transmission lines.。