Biden executive order seeks to boost AI data centers, clean power on US lands

In one of his final major acts before leaving office, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping executive order Jan. 14 aimed at boosting the development of data centers supporting artificial intelligence and related clean power resources on federal land.

The order, issued less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, follows the release about a month before of a long-awaited study from the US Energy Department estimating that data centers could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity by 2028 — a threefold increase from 2023 levels.

Biden's order directs the secretaries of the US Defense and Energy departments, "if possible," to identify by Feb. 28 at least three federal sites on which data centers and related clean power supplies could be built and operated by private entities by the end of 2027. The developers would be selected through a competitive process beginning March 31, with winning proposals named by June 30.

The order would require private operators to ensure the AI data centers have procured "sufficient new clean power generation resources," with deliverable power that matches the data center's timing of electricity use on an hourly basis.

"To help ensure that new data center electricity demand does not take clean power away from other end users, result in resource adequacy issues, or increase grid emissions, the construction of AI infrastructure must be matched with new, clean electricity generation resources," the order said.

Data center developers have made carbon neutrality pledges, but rapid growth in their operations and concurrent increases in electricity demand have made it harder for them to keep those pledges. Last summer, Google LLC acknowledged that surging electricity demand from its data center fleet caused the company's greenhouse gas emissions to soar 48% above its 2019 baseline, threatening the tech giant's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

The order

Biden's order also requires transmission providers and regional grid operators to report information to the DOE on surplus interconnection service, opportunities for generation repowering, and proposed clean generation capacity that could potentially support AI data centers on federal land.

The DOE secretary, in consultation with the Defense secretary, must then engage with transmission owners and operators by June 30 to identify grid upgrades located near federal sites selected for AI infrastructure. The order authorizes the DOE secretary to consider designating geographic areas around AI infrastructure on federal sites as national-interest electric transmission corridors.

Under the order, relevant agencies must issue all permits and approvals required for construction by the end of 2025 "or as soon as they can be completed consistent with applicable law." Permitting agencies are also authorized to propose new categorical exclusions for National Environmental Policy Act reviews following notice and public comment procedures.

Biden's order gives special consideration to geothermal energy by requiring the US Interior Department secretary, "if possible," to designate at least five regions as "Priority Geothermal Zones" capable of supporting federally sited AI infrastructure. Google, for example, is exploring innovative rate designs to power its AI operations in Nevada with advanced geothermal energy.

Similarly, the order directs the Defense and Energy secretaries to publish a list of up to 10 high-priority sites most conducive to "expeditious, safe, and responsible deployment of additional nuclear power capacity" readily available to serve AI data center electricity demand by Dec. 31, 2035.

In October 2024, Google and Amazon.com Inc. both announced signed agreements with nuclear developers for advanced reactor projects to support their AI operations. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc. is seeking proposals from nuclear energy developers to provide the Facebook parent company with 1 GW to 4 GW of new nuclear capacity.

In addition to clean energy matching requirements, the order requires participating AI operators to report investor information to the US government and comply with additional cybersecurity and supply chain protections.

At a broad level, the Jan. 14 order's focus on leveraging federal lands to relieve permitting burdens for AI data centers could prove appealing to the next administration, said Joseph Majkut, director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"For these large data centers, if permitting proves too challenging out in the private market, then federal lands construction could provide some optionality," Majkut said in an interview. "Of course, the conditions under which the next administration would offer that relative to energy sources and other impacts are going to be different."

Trump, who is expected to issue a series of executive orders on US "energy dominance" after being sworn in, could rescind all or parts of Biden's Jan. 14 order.