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(Bloomberg) — The focus of power companies is shifting away from clean energy and sustainability as they race to meet growing power demand from artificial intelligence, according to Exelon Corp. Chief Executive Officer Calvin Butler.
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“Clean is not even on the agenda right now,” Butler said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg TV.
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Surging demand from data centers, electrification of the economy and new factories is complicating the energy transition, with some power companies moving to keep old coal and gas plants alive longer.
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A year ago, Butler said, the conversation was around green and sustainability. Now, it is about delivering enough electricity. Exelon provides power to about 10.7 million customers in states including Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
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The rising cost of power was the biggest factor that pushed clean off the top list of utility priorities, Butler said. The demand boom, the retirement of coal plants and even the closing of some natural gas plants combined to make electricity more expensive, causing regulators, tech firms and customers to prioritize reliability and affordability instead.
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The largest tech companies have become less concerned about clean energy powering their massive data centers, Butler said.
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“A year ago it was a No. 1 one priority because they had an administration that was pushing them,” he said, referring to the Biden administration’s focus on carbon-free electricity. “And now it’s like, ‘We just need to get connected.’”
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—With assistance from Alix Steel.
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(Adds the final three paragraphs and quotes from a separate interview.)
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