California Needs to Expand Clean-Energy Data Centers — or We Risk Getting Left Behind

The Bay Area Council is working closely with our AI industry members and many other organizations to expand and accelerate California’s fast-growing AI economy, including removing barriers to building the critical infrastructure needed to power its future. Council Chief Operating Officer John Grubb recently penned a commentary for the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting the incredible opportunity we have in front of us and the mindset we must adopt in order to take advantage of it. 

California stands at a critical juncture. A wave of demand is surging across California’s economy. Electric vehicles, data centers, clean manufacturing, and high-tech research and development — the backbone of the 21st century economy — are all driving up our need for electricity. 

In many cases, these sectors are being led by California companies. But unless we dramatically expand our grid capacity and carbon-free energy supply, and streamline the way we permit, build and connect new energy resources, we risk sending these jobs, innovations and investments to other states.  

Our state’s policies still adhere to an outdated framework that assumes energy is a limited commodity to be rationed and reduced. That must quickly change, or we will risk much higher joblessness and an even greater affordability crisis.