To hear Trump administration officials and many energy executives tell it, the United States is on the precipice of a new golden age for natural gas that will be driven in large part by the voracious power needs of data centers.
But turning natural gas into electricity requires giant metal turbines that are increasingly difficult to secure. Companies that haven’t already reserved this equipment, which can weigh as much as a large airplane and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, are facing waits of three or four years, about twice as long as just a year earlier.
The cost of building gas power plants has also soared — so much so that in some parts of the country, solar panels and batteries are likely to be cheaper, energy executives and consultants said. By some estimates, it now costs two or three times as much to build a gas-fired power plant as it did a few years ago.
The challenge of securing enough gas turbines is one of the clearest examples of how booming investment in artificial intelligence is reshaping the electric power industry, overwhelming suppliers and upending longstanding notions of what makes sense financially.
It’s also a reminder of the gap that often exists between the plans and goals of politicians and executives and the reality on the ground.
U.S. gas demand is clearly rising, all the more so because of the data centers needed to train and use chatbots and other forms of A.I. But there are limits to how much more gas the country can use — limits that elected officials and energy tycoons cannot easily wish away.