North American Electric Reliability Corporation

“Summer peak demand is forecast to grow by 224 GW over the next 10 years, a more than 69% increase over the 2024 LTRA forecast, with new data centers for artificial intelligence and the digital economy accounting for most of the projected increase.”

North American Electric Reliability CorporationResearcher

FERC-certified Electric Reliability Organization; 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment

The assessment covers 2026–2035; the 224 GW summer figure is about a 24% increase over 2025 peak demand and reflects the highest compound peak-demand growth rates NERC has tracked since 1995.

“MISO forecasts its peak total internal demand at 127 GW during the 2026 summer season and expects that summer demand will grow to 143.7 GW by 2035; the largest contributor to this accelerated demand growth is data center additions, with 18 GW of data center loads projected by 2035.”

North American Electric Reliability CorporationResearcher

FERC-certified Electric Reliability Organization; 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment

NERC classifies MISO as normal risk in 2026, elevated in 2027 and high risk from 2028 onward on the back of this demand trajectory; the 143.7 GW figure resolves against MISO's actual 2035 summer peak internal demand.