{"id":2515436,"date":"2025-11-28T10:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-launches-ai-manhattan-project-it-might-overwhelm-the-power-grid\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:51:49","slug":"trump-launches-ai-manhattan-project-it-might-overwhelm-the-power-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-launches-ai-manhattan-project-it-might-overwhelm-the-power-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Launches AI &#8216;Manhattan Project&#8217;: It Might Overwhelm the Power Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-launches-ai-manhattan-project-it-might-overwhelm-the-power-grid%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2515436&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses concerns about the resilience of America&#8217;s electricity grid,especially with winter approaching. The North american Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warns that major regional grids, especially Texas&#8217;s ERCOT grid, face risks of blackouts due to insufficient dispatchable baseload power amid rising electricity demand. This demand spike is fueled notably by the rapid expansion of energy-intensive AI data centers and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/britain-may-face-3-hour-forced-power-cuts-this-winter\/\" title=\"Brit...n May Face 3-hour Forced Power Cuts This Winter\">large industrial users<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>the article recalls the 2021 Texas winter blackout caused by Winter Storm Uri, which led to widespread energy failures due to frozen infrastructure, faltering renewable output, and a lack of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/spains-massive-power-outage-was-caused-by-technical-errors\/\" title=\"Sp...n\u2019s massive power outage was ... by technical errors\">sufficient thermal power plants<\/a>. Although reforms have been made since then, Texas and other regions still lack enough reliable thermal capacity to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-voters-approve-measure-to-create-10-billion-state-energy-fund\/\" title=\"Texas voters approve measure to create  billion state energy fund\">prevent future blackouts<\/a> when wind and solar generation drop during extreme weather.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the piece highlights the launch of the &#8220;Genesis mission,&#8221; a government-private partnership aimed at accelerating U.S. AI development by integrating federal scientific data onto a national AI platform. While this initiative promises advances in science and national security,it will substantially increase electricity demands,placing even more strain on the power grid.<\/p>\n<p>The article concludes by stressing the urgent need for substantial new thermal power capacity to support the growing energy needs and avoid future power crises, noting that current progress and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >past track records offer limited confidence<\/a> that the grid can meet these challenges.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Will America&rsquo;s electricity grid make it through the impending winter without suffering major blackouts? It&rsquo;s a legitimate question to ask given the dearth of adequate dispatchable baseload that now exists on a majority of the major regional grids, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/11\/22\/texas-data-center-ai-ercot-blackout-power-outage.html\">new report<\/a> from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>In its report, NERC expresses particular concern for the Texas grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, where a rapid buildout of new, energy-hogging AI data centers and major industrial users is creating a rapid increase in electricity demand.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Strong load growth from new data centers and other large industrial end users is driving higher winter electricity demand forecasts and contributing to continued risk of supply shortfalls,&rdquo; NERC noted.<\/p>\n<p>Texas, remember, lost 300 souls in February 2021 when Winter Storm Uri put the state in a deep freeze for a week. The freezing temperatures combined with snowy and icy conditions first caused the state&rsquo;s wind and solar fleets to fail.<\/p>\n<p>When ERCOT implemented rolling blackouts, they denied <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/near-data-center-prepare-blackouts-winter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electricity<\/a> to some of the state&rsquo;s natural gas transmission infrastructure, causing it to freeze up, which in turn caused a significant percentage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-post-editorial-board-americans-fed-up-with-crime-and-other-commentary\/\" title=\"NY Post Editorial Board: Americans Fed up With Crime and Other Commentary\">natural gas power plants<\/a> to fall offline. Because the state had already shut down so much of its once formidable fleet of coal-fired plants and hasn&rsquo;t opened a new nuclear plant since the mid-1980s, a disastrous major blackout that lingered for days resulted.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>To their credit, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the legislature, ERCOT, and other state agencies have invoked major reforms to the system designed to prevent this scenario from happening again over the last four years. But, as NERC notes, the state remains dangerously short of dispatchable thermal capacity needed to keep the grid up and running when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/time-end-government-support-industrial-wind-solar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wind<\/a> and solar inevitably drop off the system in such a storm. And ERCOT isn&rsquo;t alone: Several other regional grids are in the same boat.<\/p>\n<p>This country&rsquo;s power generation sector can either get serious about building out the needed new thermal capacity or disaster will inevitably result again, because demand isn&rsquo;t going to stop rising anytime soon. In fact, the already rapid expansion of the AI data center industry is certain to accelerate in the wake <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/trump-signs-executive-order-launching-genesis-mission-ai-project-rcna245600\">of President Trump&rsquo;s approval<\/a> on Monday of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/11\/launching-the-genesis-mission\/\">Genesis Mission<\/a>, a plan to create another Manhattan Project-style partnership between the government and private industry focused on AI.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s an incredibly complex vision, but what the Genesis Mission boils down to is an effort to build an &ldquo;integrated AI platform&rdquo; consisting of all federal scientific datasets to which selected AI development projects will be provided access. The concept is to build what amounts to a national brain to help accelerate U.S. AI development and enable America to remain ahead of China in the global AI arms race.<\/p>\n<p>Every dataset that is currently siloed within DOE, NASA, NSF, Census Bureau, NIH, USDA, FDA, and other agencies will be melded into a single dataset to try to produce a sort of quantum leap in AI development.<\/p>\n<p>Put simply, most AI tools currently exist in a phase of their development in which they function as little more than accelerated, advanced search tools &mdash; basically, they&rsquo;re in the fourth grade of their education path on the way to obtaining their doctorate&rsquo;s degree. This is an effort to invoke a quantum leap among those selected tools, enabling them to figuratively skip eight grades and become college freshmen.<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s how the order signed Monday by President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-effect-white-house-celebrates-new-jobs-report-beats-economists-expectations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump<\/a> puts it: &ldquo;The Genesis Mission will dramatically accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and multiply the return on taxpayer investment into research and development, thereby furthering America&rsquo;s technological dominance and global strategic leadership.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s an ambitious goal that attempts to exploit some of the same central planning techniques China is able to use to its own advantage.<\/p>\n<p>But here&rsquo;s the thing: Every element envisioned in the Genesis Mission will require more electricity. Much more, in fact. It&rsquo;s a brave new world that will place a huge amount of added pressure on power generation companies and grid managers like ERCOT. Americans must hope and pray they&rsquo;re up to the task. Their track records in this century do not inspire confidence.<\/p>\n<p><em>David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><i><b>The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either d or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/submitop-ed\/\">here<\/a>.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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This is a valid concern due to the shortage of sufficient dispatchable baseload capacity across most major regional grids, as highlighted in a recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2515437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-11-28T003119.135.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[51738,67861,32358,3634],"class_list":["post-2515436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ai-2","tag-manhattan-project","tag-power-grid","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-11-28T003119.135.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2515436"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515445,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515436\/revisions\/2515445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2515437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2515436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2515436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2515436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}