Insights From The 2024 Mayors Summit

MEAG Power hosted its 30^th Mayors Summit in November. This year’s event was especially notable as it came at a time when energy demand is predicted to rise more rapidly than it has in years. MEAG Power CEO Jim Fuller’s talk included the following graph from the Department of Energy that showed past and future demand growth.

What’s at issue for Georgia and the rest of the U.S. is that summer peak demand is predicted to increase 10% between 2022-2032, while summer peak supply is only supposed to rise 4%, which includes currently planned capacity additions.

Much of the increase in energy demand will come from energy-intensive data centers, where Georgia has become a hotbed. In fact, the metro Atlanta region has the most data centers under construction of any comparable city in the U.S.

We’re seeing data center load requests come into our Participant communities as large as 50 MW up to 1 GW. Such sizeable loads can pose a significant risk for an individual city. However, cities that join together in a new generation project can take on these opportunities while spreading risk and rewards in a manageable fashion.

The growth in data centers is being fueled by AI, a topic presented by Alex Salkever, an author, AI expert and former BusinessWeek editor. He noted that Microsoft alone is on track to add a new data center every three days worldwide! While this poses obvious risks to grid reliability and the availability of power generation, the AI boom provides opportunities to improve city infrastructure through aspects such as remote inspections of power lines and drone-assisted first response to emergency situations.

Helping ensure grid reliability for many MEAG Power Participants is the availability of hydropower from Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA). Virgil Hobbs, SEPA Administrator and Chief Executive, walked the audience through who SEPA is and what they do to support their 472 wholesale customers, who in turn serve more than 12 million consumers.

Covering the early ramifications from the recent national election was Rob Talley, President of Talley & Associates, Inc., who has helped MEAG Power and its Participants through legislative lobbying for many years. On the economic front, Dr. Roger Tutterow, Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University, gave an update on several important topics including inflation, risk of a recession, the housing and labor markets, and the potential for future rate cuts in the Federal Funds Rate.