Trump wants coal to operate Ki calculating centers -the Tech industry is careful

President Donald Trump wants to revive the fighting coal industry in the United States by using systems to supply the data centers that build the large technology companies in order to train artificial intelligence.

In April, Trump granted an executive order in which his cabinet was instructed to find areas of the United States in which a coal-drive infrastructure is available to support AI data centers and determine whether the infrastructure can be expanded in order to cover the growing electricity requirement of the country's tech sector.

Trump has repeatedly advertised coal as a power source for data centers. The President informed the World Economic Forum in January that he would approve power plants for AI through emergency declaration and ask the technology companies to use coal as a backup source.

“You can cheer it on with everything you want and you may have coal as a backup – good, clean coal,” said the president.

Trump's urge to set coal is on the environmental goals of the technology companies. In the short term, the electricity needs of the industry can accidentally extend the lifespan of existing coal -fired power plants.

The coal produces more carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour than any other energy source in the United States, with the exception of oil, such as from the energy induction debt. The Tech industry has invested billions of dollars into the expansion of renewable energies and increasingly turns to nuclear energy to cover the growing electricity requirement and at the same time try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that recharge with climate change.

Trump's Push is a potential lifeline for coalem workers. The industry is in a decline in a decline, since coal -fired power plants in the USA with retirement of around 16% of US stream generation in 2023 are due to 51% in 2001, according to UIA data.

Peabody Energy CEO James Grech, who took part in Trump's Executive Order Ceremony in the White House, said: “Coal -fired power plants can be a heavier charge of the requirements of the US generation, including several years of growth in data center.” Peabody is one of the largest coal producers in the United States

Grech said coal -fired power plants should rain how much electricity they send. The country's coal fleet is currently sending around 42% of its maximum capacity compared to a historical average of 72%, the CEO announced the analyst of the company's profit on May 6th.

“We believe that all cabbage generators have to postpone US carbon-fired power plants because the situation has changed clearly on site,” said Grech. “We believe that generators do not retiree that have recently been motted.”

Within the tech industry there is growing recognition that the generation of fossil fuels is required to cover the electricity requirements of the AI. However, the focus is on natural gas, which, according to the RRP, issues less half of the coal per kilowatt hour per kilowatt hour.

“To have the energy we need for the network, it will follow a certain period of time,” said Kevin Miller, Vice President of Amazon by Global Data Centers, during a panel discussion at the conference on technical and oil and gas managers in Oklahoma City last month.

“We are not surprised that we have to add a thermal generation to meet the needs at short notice,” said Miller.

Thermal production is a code word for gas, said NAT Sahlstrom, Chief Energy Officer from Tract, a company based in Denver, securing land, infrastructure and electricity resources for data centers. Sahlstrom previously headed the teams for energy, water and sustainability teams from Amazon.

Managers at AmazonPresent Nvidia And Anthropic would not commit to the use of coal, which would mainly avoid the question if it was asked during the body of the Oklahoma City Conference.

“It's never a simple answer,” said Miller from Amazon. “It is a combination of the available energy, which is other alternatives.”

Nvidia Is able to be agnostic about the type of electricity, since the chip maker takes the AI ​​value added chain, said Josh Parker, the Senior Director of the Corporate Sustainability company. “Fortunately, we leave most of these decisions to our customers.”

Jack Clark, co -founder of Anthropic, said there is a wider series of options than just coal. “We would definitely consider it, but I don't know if I would say that it is at the top of our list.”

Sahlstrom said Trump's executive regulations seem to be like a “dogefiff” for coal mining voters. There is a big difference between looking at the existing infrastructure and the facts to “build new power plants that are competitive and exist in 30 to 40 years,” said the tract manager.

Coal is displaced by renewable energies, natural gas and existing nuclear power plants, since coal -fired power plants are increasingly exposed to difficult economy, said Sahlstrom. “Coal has somehow found itself without work,” he said.

“I don't see how the Hyperscale community runs out and signs long -term obligations for new coal -fired power plants,” said former Amazon manager. (The tech companies that increase the AI ​​are often referred to as “hyperscalers”.)

“I would be shocked if I saw something like that,” said Sahlstrom.

However, retirement of coal systems is a real challenge for the network, since the electricity requirement increases due to data centers, renewed industrialization and the broader electrification of the economy.

The nation's largest network, the PJM connection connection, has predicted that the electricity could increase by 40% after 2039. In 2023, PJM warned that 40 gigawatts of existing electricity generation, mostly coal, is exposed to risk by 2030, which is about 21% of the installed capacity of PJM.

Data centers will temporarily extend the question of the carbon if the supply companies maintain the reliability of the networks from last October, according to a Moody report, and delay their decarbonization goals. According to the National Mining Association, the supply companies have already postponed the retirement of coal -fired power plants of around 39 gigawatts.

“If we want to suspend America's generation of electricity in the next five or ten years, we will make sense in the next five or ten years [have] I have to stop closing coal -fired power plants, “the Minister of Energy Wright told CNBCS” Money Movers “last month.

But natural gas and renewable energies are the future, said Sahlstrom. About 60% of the emission reductions of the electricity sector in the past 20 years are due to the coal deflection of gas displacements, with the rest of renewable energies, said Sahlstrom.

“This is a fairly powerful combination, and it is difficult for me to see people backwards by bringing more coal into the mix, especially if you are a hyper-shell customer who has net zero carbon goals,” he said.