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Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge.
美国正在发生一些不寻常的事情。对电力的需求在二十年内基本持平，现在已经开始激增。
Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.
在过去一年里，电力公司对到2028年将需要多少额外电力的预测数量几乎翻了一番，因为它们面临着数据中心数量爆炸式增加、新的联邦法律推动制造业突然再次增长，以及数百万辆电动汽车正在接通电源的情况。
Many power companies were already struggling to keep the lights on, especially during extreme weather, and say the strain on grids will only increase.
许多电力公司为了让电灯亮起已经感到很吃力，特别是在极端天气期间，并表示电网的压力会只增不减。
Peak demand in the summer is projected to grow by 38,000 megawatts nationwide in the next five years, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Grid Strategies, which is like adding another California to the grid.
根据咨询公司“电网战略”的一项分析，未来五年，全国范围内夏季用电高峰需求预计将增加3.8万兆瓦，这就像是让电网再给一个加州供电。
In an ironic twist, the swelling appetite for more electricity, driven not only by electric cars but also by battery and solar factories and other aspects of the clean-energy transition, could also jeopardize the country’s plans to fight climate change.
具有讽刺意味的转折是，不仅电动汽车推动了电力需求的不断增长，电池和太阳能工厂以及清洁能源转型的其他方面也推动了电力需求的增长，而这也可能让美国抵抗气候变化的计划面临危机。
To meet spiking demand, utilities in states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are proposing to build dozens of power plants over the next 15 years that would burn natural gas.
为了满足激增的需求，佐治亚州、北卡罗来纳州、南卡罗来纳州、田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州等州的电力公司提议在未来15年内建造数十座通过燃烧天然气而发电的发电厂。
In Kansas, one utility has postponed the retirement of a coal plant to help power a giant electric-car battery factory.
在堪萨斯州，一家电力公司将一座燃煤电厂的退役时间推迟，目的是帮助为一家大型电动汽车电池工厂提供电力。
Burning more gas and coal runs counter to President Biden’s pledge to halve the nation’s planet-warming greenhouse gases and to generate all of America’s electricity from pollution-free sources such as wind, solar and nuclear by 2035.
燃烧更多的天然气和煤炭违背了拜登总统的承诺，即到2035年将美国的温室气体排放量减半，并利用风能、太阳能和核能等无污染能源生产美国所有的电力。
“I can’t recall the last time I was so alarmed about the country’s energy trajectory,” said Tyler Norris, a former solar developer and expert in power systems who is now pursuing a doctorate at Duke University.
“我不记得上一次我对美国的能源发展道路感到如此担忧是什么时候了，”泰勒·诺里斯说，他之前是太阳能开发商和电力系统专家，现在正在杜克大学攻读博士学位。
If a wave of new gas-fired plants gets approved by state regulators, he said, “it is game over for the Biden administration’s 2035 decarbonization goal.”
他说，如果新一批的燃气发电厂获得州监管机构的批准，那么“拜登政府2035年的脱碳目标就完蛋了”。
