Musk proposes "AI energy" solution: storing energy at night and discharging it during the day will double the electricity output in the United States.

The explosive growth of artificial intelligence is pushing the US power grid to its limits. Recently, Musk proposed deploying industrial-grade battery energy storage systems on a large scale to double the effective power generation capacity of the US power grid, providing a clear path to solving the AI energy crisis. Recently, Musk stated on the social platform X that the US power grid has a stable output capacity of about 1 trillion watts, but the daily usage is only 0.5 trillion watts. By charging battery packs at night from power plants and releasing power during the day to support AI calculations, this can "double the annual electricity generation in the United States." He called large-scale industrial-grade batteries the winning solution for stabilizing the power grid. Musk's statement comes as market concerns about the surge in AI computing power leading to an energy crisis are intensifying. Huatai estimates that from 2025 to 2026, the annual electricity demand for AI data centers in the US alone will increase by 6-13 gigawatts, pushing the highest load growth rate to four times the historical average. Analysis suggests that due to the long construction cycles of traditional power sources, electrochemical energy storage, which can be rapidly deployed, is expected to become a core means of alleviating power shortages in the short term and bring enormous growth opportunities to the related industry chain. AI triggers a power crisis, and energy storage becomes a key solution The rapid development of artificial intelligence data centers is driving a rapid increase in US power demand. Power shortages are already reflected in market prices, with major tech companies forced to sign power purchase agreements at a high price of $120 per megawatt-hour, nearly double the market average, and the PJM electricity market capacity price has increased by 22% from the previous cycle. Huatai's calculations show that the US still faces an 11-20 gigawatt power gap. Faced with the widening gap, traditional power generation solutions are difficult to provide timely support due to long construction periods. New natural gas power projects require a 3-year construction period, while nuclear power stations require over 10 years. The serious lag in traditional power source construction is forcing the market to turn to more flexible solutions. In the context of traditional power sources' slow response, new energy technologies represented by electrochemical energy storage are becoming the key to solving short-term power shortages. Huatai states that unlike the long construction periods of gas turbines and nuclear power stations, energy storage systems can be deployed extremely quickly, usually within 1 to 1.5 years. According to Huatai's estimation, to bridge the projected power gap of 18-27 gigawatts by the end of 2026, the US will need to add 110-205 gigawatt-hours of energy storage capacity in the next two years. This means that compared to the installed capacity of 37 gigawatt-hours in 2024, the market needs to maintain a growth rate of over 50% per year. This trend is expected to benefit lithium-ion battery companies, energy storage integrators, and backup power generation equipment companies. For investors, if the Federal Reserve opens a cycle of interest rate cuts in the future, it will further increase the return on investment in photovoltaic and energy storage projects, forming a "double-barreled" favorable trend for the industry. This article is reprinted from Wall Street Seen, written by Ye Huiwen; GMTEight edited by Wenwen.