Musk proposes "AI energy" solution: storing energy in the grid at night and releasing it during the day will double U.S. electricity output.

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The explosive growth of artificial intelligence is pushing the U.S. power grid to its limits. Recently, Musk proposed that by massively deploying industrial-grade battery energy storage systems, the effective power generation capacity of the U.S. grid could be doubled, providing a clear path to solving the AI energy crisis.

Recently, Musk said on social platform X that the U.S. power grid has about 1 trillion watts of stable output capacity, but the average daily usage is only 0.5 trillion watts. By running power plants at night to charge battery packs and releasing electricity during the day to support AI computing, it will be possible "to double the U.S.'s annual power generation." He stated that large-scale industrial-grade batteries are the key solution to stabilizing the power grid.

Musk's statement comes at a time when the market is increasingly concerned about an energy crisis caused by surging AI computing power. Huatai Securities expects that from 2025 to 2026, just U.S. domestic AI data centers will add 6-13 GW of annual electricity demand, pushing peak load growth to four times the historical average.

Analysts point out that due to the lengthy construction cycles of traditional power sources, rapidly deployable electrochemical energy storage could become the core means to alleviate power shortages in the short term, bringing huge growth opportunities to relevant industrial chains.

AI Triggers Power Crisis, Energy Storage Becomes Key Solution

The rapid development of artificial intelligence data centers is driving U.S. power demand to rise quickly. Expectations of power shortages are already reflected in market prices. Large technology companies have been forced to sign power purchase agreements at high prices of $120/MWh, nearly twice the market average, and PJM power market capacity prices have risen by 22% over the previous cycle.

Huatai Securities estimates show that the U.S. still faces an 11-20 GW power gap. In the face of an expanding gap, traditional power generation solutions find it hard to provide timely support due to long construction timelines. New natural gas power projects require three years to build, and nuclear plants need more than ten years. The severe lag in traditional power source construction is forcing the market to turn to more flexible solutions.

With traditional power sources unable to respond quickly, new energy technologies represented by electrochemical energy storage are becoming the key to resolving short-term power shortages. Huatai Securities stated that, unlike the long construction cycles of gas turbines and nuclear power plants, energy storage systems can be deployed extremely quickly, usually coming online in just 1 to 1.5 years.

According to Huatai Securities’ estimates, to make up for the projected 18-27 GW power gap at the end of 2026, the U.S. needs to add 110-205 GWh of installed energy storage capacity in the next two years. This means that compared to the 37 GWh installed capacity in 2024, the market needs to maintain an annual growth rate of over 50%.

This trend is expected to benefit battery cell companies, energy storage integrators, and backup power equipment companies across the board. For investors, if the Federal Reserve starts a rate cut cycle in the future, it will further boost the investment returns of photovoltaic and energy storage projects, creating a "double boost" for the sector.

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