Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang informed CNBC this week that the chipmaker’s AI infrastructure plan with OpenAI is “monumental in size.” Their plan is so massive that it’s going to push the boundaries of what’s doable. The chipmaker and the AI lab are aiming to construct not less than 10 gigawatts of knowledge facilities. This will sap an enormous quantity of power at a time when the electrical grid is already strained . Attempts to deploy extra power have confronted financial and political constraints that make a quick repair unlikely. Ten gigawatts is roughly equal to the annual power consumption of 8 million U.S. households, in accordance to a CNBC evaluation of knowledge from the Energy Information Administration. It is about the similar quantity of power as New York City’s baseline peak summer time demand in 2024, in accordance to the New York Independent System Operator , the state electrical grid. “There’s never been an engineering project, a technical project of this complexity and this scale — ever,” Huang informed CNBC on Monday. Nvidia and OpenAI have offered no data on when and the place the websites will likely be constructed, aside from disclosing that the first gigawatt will come on-line in the second half of 2026. When CNBC reached out for extra element on Tuesday, Nvidia declined to remark. It’s unclear the place all the electrical energy that the corporations want will come from. The U.S. is forecast to add 63 gigawatts of power to the grid this yr, in accordance to EIA knowledge . Nivida’s and OpenAI’s 10 gigawatts of knowledge facilities are equal to an enormous chunk, 16%, of the new power that will likely be deployed in 2025. The Trump administration is pushing for knowledge facilities to use fossil fuels, notably pure fuel, however orders for brand new fuel generators face lengthy wait occasions with GE Vernova offered out by 2028. The U.S. is forecast to add simply 4.4 gigawatts of recent fuel technology this yr, in accordance to EIA. The tech sector and the White House are working to construct new nuclear crops, however it’ll take years for reactors to join to the grid. The latest massive enlargement at Plant Vogtle in Georgia took greater than a decade to full. And the small superior reactors backed by the tech sector should not anticipated to attain a business stage till the finish of the decade at earliest. This leaves renewable power as the most viable, rapidly deployable supply of electrical energy to meet the demand from Nvidia and OpenAI in the close to time period. More than 90% of the new power that the U.S. is anticipated to add this yr will come from photo voltaic, wind or battery storage, in accordance to EIA. “The power requirement is largely going to be coming from the new energy sector or not at all,” stated Kevin Smith, CEO of Arevon, a photo voltaic and battery storage developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, that is energetic in 17 states. But the White House has successfully declared warfare on renewable power. President Donald Trump stated final month that the federal authorities won’t approve any extra photo voltaic and wind . Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s workplace is now reviewing all permits for photo voltaic and wind initiatives. Even initiatives on non-public land could possibly be hampered by the Trump administration as such efforts usually want permits from federal businesses like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Trump’s tariffs, uncertainty over allowing, and the finish of key tax credit will lead to a slowdown in renewable deployment in the coming years that might problem knowledge middle deployment, Smith and executives at different massive renewable builders warned CNBC final month . “The panic in the data center, AI world is probably not going to set in for another 12 months or so, when they start realizing that they can’t get the power they need in some of these areas where they’re planning to build data centers,” Smith informed CNBC in August. “Then we’ll see what happens,” Smith stated. “There may be a reversal in policy to try and build whatever we can and get power onto the grid.”