Strategies for Managing Data Center Demand Avoidance

In the dynamic world of energy, the Trump administration has been making waves with its policies and decisions.

According to reports from Bloomberg, Peabody Energy Corp., a major player in the coal industry, is preparing for a surge in coal demand that analysts deem unlikely to materialize. Meanwhile, the Comanche Generating Station in Colorado may be ordered to stay open by the Trump administration under its "energy emergency" policy, as reported by Big Pivots. However, coal-fired power generation increased in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024, primarily due to high natural gas prices, Inside Climate News reports.

The nuclear sector has also seen its fair share of controversies. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair, David Wright, confirmed that a Trump administration official instructed him to "rubber-stamp" reactors approved by the Energy or Defense departments. However, he pushed back against these instructions, as reported by E&E News.

On the other hand, a coalition of clean energy nonprofits, advocacy groups, and companies is promoting distributed energy resources as a solution to rising demand and grid stress, Utility Dive reports. This shift towards cleaner and more distributed energy sources contrasts with the potential continuation of plans by some U.S. companies to ignore climate goals and align fully with the Trump administration's policies. Some companies are cutting $14 billion in green technology investments originally planned under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act and instead supporting coal, as part of a broader rollback of renewable energy projects including offshore wind, which faces stoppages under Trump, as reported by The Hill.

The offshore wind sector is also facing challenges. An appeals court has ruled against environmental groups fighting a Biden-era offshore oil and gas lease sale, and the White House is directing various federal agencies to find ways to halt offshore wind development in the U.S., including using the Health and Human Services Department to investigate debunked allegations about harmful electromagnetic fields from turbines, according to the New York Times.

The U.S. has also threatened countries with tariffs if they don't reject a United Nations deal to cut maritime fuel emissions, as reported by Reuters.

In the realm of carbon capture, some oil companies are considering whether to continue their plans to spend billions of dollars on carbon capture and emissions reduction, or to ignore climate goals and align fully with the Trump administration. A peer-reviewed study suggests that the Earth can store less captured carbon than previously thought, due to factors like earthquake-prone areas and other risks, as reported by Grist.

The rise in natural gas prices is also impacting the energy sector. A new IEEFA analysis predicts that U.S. electricity prices will continue to rise as natural gas prices increase due to growing international demand, Utility Dive reports. Additionally, rising demand for gas power plants to fuel data centers could lead to a surge in carbon capture deployment, though the technology has not yet proven itself at commercial scale, according to E&E News.

These developments highlight the complex and evolving landscape of the energy sector under the Trump administration, with a mix of challenges, opportunities, and controversies shaping the industry's future.