Natural gas is critical to ensuring reliable, scalable power to support the demand for energy caused by the growth of artificial intelligence, the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
Data centers and cloud computing are increasing the demand for electricity 24/7 and that demand is predicted to grow.
“While renewables play a vital role in our energy mix, natural gas remains critical to ensuring the kind of reliable, scalable power needed to support the AI-driven future. For Pennsylvania, the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States, this presents a massive opportunity—not just to fuel the future, but to lead it,” the alliance said.
As the number of data centers increases, many of which consume as much power as a small town, they will need constant on-demand electricity. Natural gas provides that electricity, and its flexibility allows it to ramp up when needed, balance the grid, and complement the growth of renewable energy sources.
New data center projects can be paired with natural gas generation or located near existing plants to enhance the data center’s reliability and performance, officials said. And Pennsylvania stands out as a supplier of stable power that allows AI to deliver on its promise.
But natural gas needs infrastructure to get it where it’s needed, meaning investing in pipelines, expanding capacity of existing systems, and ensuring regulatory frameworks are there to support timely and responsible development.
Clear and consistent permitting policies are necessary to support natural gas production, along with partnering with technology companies looking for energy-secure regions to build in, the Alliance wrote.