“Powering Prosperity: Transmission & America’s Industrial Golden Age” calls for domestic buildout of transmission to power globally competitive industries
Washington, D.C.—SAFE’s Center for Grid Security (CGS) today released a new report, “Powering Prosperity: Transmission & America’s Industrial Golden Age,” finding that the United States lags China in four out of five essential manufacturing capabilities necessary for defense readiness. Accordingly, the nation must accelerate the buildout of high-capacity transmission to not only meet the energy demands of AI and data center expansion, but also the needs of strategic manufacturing industries.
While the current emphasis on digital infrastructure is both urgent and indispensable, strengthening a broad range of manufacturing sectors demands a comprehensive energy strategy to reindustrialize the U.S. economy. The report identifies semiconductor fabrication, aluminum smelting, automobile manufacturing, steelmaking, and petroleum refining as core to U.S. economic capacity and defense readiness.
China leads or outpaces the United States in four of these five strategic manufacturing sectors. Semiconductors are needed to operate virtually every piece of military hardware, but the U.S. holds only 10 percent of global semiconductor fabrication capacity. Current U.S. aluminum production only meets 15 percent of the nation’s needs. While the U.S. saw a decline in automobile and steel production between 1999 and 2023, the trend in China was the very opposite. In 2023, the Chinese auto industry was three times as large as that of the United States, while the steel industry was 12 times as large. China has continued to expand its industrial edge through coordinated planning and rapid transmission buildout.
Lastly, though the U.S. outpaces China in petroleum refining, the process is energy-intensive. With the Department of War relying on steady supplies of jet fuel, diesel, and naval distillates, access to affordable and reliable grid power is necessary to expand domestic refineries.
To address this manufacturing shortfall, policymakers must understand the following:
- Reindustrializing America’s strategic manufacturing sectors requires an affordable and reliable energy system capable of meeting large-scale, 24-hour industrial demand.
- The rapid expansion of AI and data centers is a central driver of national electricity demand. Rising data center load is projected at 150 to 400 TWh of additional demand by 2028.
- Transmission is imperative for supporting simultaneous growth in AI and defense-critical manufacturing. High voltage and interregional lines move power to where it is needed most, lower system costs, increase resilience, and ensure that AI clusters and large manufacturers can access both dependable and affordable electricity.
“Today’s grid was not built to support the needs of AI, data center expansion, and reindustrialization,” said Danielle Russo, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Grid Security. “We need more transmission and we need it as soon as possible. On current timelines, the best time to start building a transmission line was 15 years ago. The second best time is now, while working to reduce the many permitting and other regulatory barriers holding back this essential infrastructure.”
Top Recommendations:
- Expand transmission capacity, with priority for high voltage and interregional lines.
- Publish a National Reindustrialization Action Plan that puts industrial expansion on the same national priority level as AI leadership.
The United States must build an energy system capable of powering both AI and large-scale domestic manufacturing in order to lead in the next industrial era, strengthen the defense industrial base, and ensure enduring national competitiveness. High voltage and interregional lines provide the flexibility, resilience, and cost effectiveness to make this a reality.
Read “Powering Prosperity: Transmission & America’s Industrial Golden Age”
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About SAFE’s Center for Grid Security
SAFE’s Center for Grid Security provides policy analysis and recommendations to address challenges facing the nation’s electrical infrastructure from a national security perspective.
About SAFE
SAFE is an action-oriented, nonpartisan organization committed to transportation, energy, and supply chain policies that advance the economic and national security of the United States, its partners, and allies. Since 2004, SAFE has worked with its Energy Security Leadership Council—a peerless coalition of current and former Fortune 500 CEOs and retired 4-star admirals and generals—to support secure, resilient, and sustainable energy solutions. Learn more at SecureEnergy.org.
