Power Problems – Real or Exaggerated?

We see an increasing amount of concern around power (and energy) availability and our work with Issaquena Green Power has put us right at the “coal face” of this debate. We draw some interesting conclusions.
In many industries in periods of perceived shortage or dramatic demand growth, we see over-reaction – too many people joining the cause simultaneously – while many would like to with power, it is not that easy.
Old and underinvested infrastructure is a problem/constraint, physical supply of equipment is a constraint, and regulations that did not foresee rapid demand growth are a constraint. Money cannot fix all these quickly.
Workarounds involve more use of fossil fuels for the next 15 years, at least. See recent ExxonMobil projections for 2050. This is good for the natural gas industry and should be good for CCS, the most viable clean option.
Otherwise, we will spend more time on the polymer and Ag markets, which will be the focus of C-MACC Co-Founder Cooley May’s trip this week to New York City, where he will visit clients and present at a conference.

Exhibit 1: Data center energy demand in gigawatts (GW) – each GW is roughly the power a large nuclear plant generates.