You might be surprised to learn that electricity makes up just 21 percent of global energy consumption. Fossil fuels and other sources still carry most of the load, but their dominance is expected to fade regardless of future scenarios. The International Energy Agency projects that electricity’s share of worldwide energy use will double within the next decade. The reasons are well known: electrification, electric vehicles, data centers, and AI are all driving an unprecedented need for more power generation, transmission, and storage. Unfortunately, the world is nowhere near prepared to meet such a dramatic spike in demand.
Rediscovering nuclear power
Over the past year, the US has taken steps to significantly expand domestic energy production. Part of that effort has involved signaling a renewed openness to nuclear power — something the country has largely avoided for decades. In January, an executive order titled Unleashing American Energy instructed federal agencies to roll back regulations related to power generation. While much of the focus was on dismantling environmental rules governing oil, gas, and coal extraction, the order also aimed to reduce barriers to building new nuclear plants. Then in May, a follow-up order explicitly called for the deployment of “advanced nuclear technologies.”
As AI continues to drive electricity demand, major tech companies have moved aggressively to secure additional power supplies. Meta signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation to purchase the full output of the Clinton Power Station, preserving the 1.1GW nuclear facility once its state tax credit expires next year. Microsoft struck a similar 20-year deal with Constellation for power from reactor 1 at Three Mile Island, now renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. That project also received a boost on November 18, when the Department of Energy authorized a $1 billion loan. Beyond tech-backed deals, other dormant reactors are being revived, including the Palisades plant in Michigan, which received a $1.52 billion DOE loan earlier this year to restore its 800MW capacity.
Tech companies are also wagering on next-generation nuclear by backing startups developing new reactor designs. Google has invested in Kairos Power, which plans to build small modular reactors, while Amazon has put money into X-Energy and published plans for its own nuclear development in Washington State.
This renewed interest isn’t limited to the US. Globally, nuclear construction is accelerating. According to the World Nuclear Association, 70 reactors are currently being built across 15 countries. Nations including Russia, India, Argentina, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, and Brazil are all expanding their nuclear capacity.
China, in particular, stands out. It is currently constructing 33 reactors and approved another 10 in April. As reported earlier this year, China’s strategy of building reactors in batches has sharply reduced costs. While the UK’s two new reactors at Hinkley Point are expected to cost more than $60 billion, each new Chinese reactor reportedly comes in at around $2.7 billion.
Closing the nuclear gap
Nuclear power, however, is not a quick fix. Building a reactor can take close to a decade, and that timeline doesn’t include the years of regulatory and planning work required before construction even begins. As a result, any meaningful transformation of the US energy mix will unfold over generations, not election cycles. That reality raises concerns that today’s nuclear enthusiasm could be masking a renewed push for fossil fuel extraction.
One clear casualty of recent US policy was solar energy. The sweeping Big, Beautiful Bill eliminated subsidies for domestic solar manufacturing, effectively undercutting the US industry and ceding advantage to China. As reported in July, the legislation severely weakened America’s solar supply chain. At the same time, the Department of Energy launched a $625 million initiative to revive the coal industry and recommission aging plants, while also expanding contracts to bolster the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
In September, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told BBC News that fossil fuel expansion wasn’t a concern because fusion power would be on the grid within a decade. Wright, a former CEO of fracking firm Liberty Energy, was widely criticized by climate experts for promoting a report described as “misleading or fundamentally incorrect.” Then, on November 20, the DOE reorganized its internal structure, eliminating several renewable energy and efficiency offices while creating a new Office of Fusion.
Solar power’s momentum
Even as US policy shifts, renewables continue to surge globally. In October, the International Energy Agency projected that renewable capacity would grow by 4.6 terawatts by 2030 — equivalent to the combined power generation of China, the EU, and Japan. Seventy-seven percent of that growth is expected to come from solar power alone, despite reduced subsidies in the US and less favorable conditions in China.
While US solar projections have been revised downward, solar’s core advantages remain unchanged. It is still the fastest and cheapest way to add new power capacity in many regions, whether at grid scale or locally. Solar is especially valuable in remote areas, where it reduces reliance on fossil fuels. Clean energy think tank Ember reported that solar grew from contributing just 1 percent of global electricity in 2015 to 8.8 percent in the first half of 2025.
“AI demand for electricity is the macro driver of US-made solar,” said Rob Gardner, VP of the Solar Manufacturers for America Coalition. “AI investments can’t pay off without quickly deployed power, and US solar remains the fastest and cheapest option.” Gardner pointed to a recent FERC forecast predicting 92.6GW of new solar capacity coming online by July 2028.
The promise of fusion
The US is placing significant hope in fusion power as a long-term solution to fossil fuel dependence. Earlier this year, the Department of Energy released a fusion roadmap aimed at moving the technology from laboratories into the real world. The plan calls for coordinated federal efforts to close remaining gaps in science, materials, and engineering. Over the next three years, the DOE wants to design reactor facilities and develop fuel sources. Within a decade, it hopes to support large-scale fuel cycle plants to help private fusion projects begin operations.
Fusion offers many of the benefits of nuclear fission with far fewer drawbacks. Instead of splitting atoms, fusion generates energy by combining lighter atoms — the same process that powers the sun. Deuterium and tritium, the primary fuels, can be sourced from water and lithium. Fusion produces no long-lived radioactive waste, carries no meltdown risk, and its materials can’t be weaponized.
The world’s largest fusion project, ITER, is under construction in France and backed by a coalition including the US, EU, and China. ITER aims both to generate power and to develop the technologies needed for commercial fusion. The organization claims Earth has enough fusion fuel to last at least a thousand years.
Fusion research is accelerating globally. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, more than 160 fusion facilities are operating worldwide. China’s EAST reactor recently set a record by sustaining a plasma reaction for 1,066 seconds.
Private investment is also surging. Companies such as Commonwealth Fusion, Type One Energy, Helion, and Pacific Fusion have raised billions to pursue their own fusion designs, though all face significant technical hurdles.
Stuart White, a spokesperson for Tokamak Energy, a UK–Japan startup spun out of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, said its reactor reached plasma temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius in 2022. “That’s an incredible milestone,” he said, “but it won’t power homes anytime soon.” White believes the next decade will focus on scaling up and identifying viable commercial pathways. He cited the UK’s STEP program, targeting operation around 2040, and described the US goal of mid-2030s deployment as “ambitious.”
White emphasized that supply chains are just as critical as physics breakthroughs, pointing to the importance of manufacturing capacity in Japan and China. He also noted that regulators may treat fusion more lightly than fission, potentially reducing costs and speeding construction.
What’s clear is that fusion will not arrive quickly enough to single-handedly decarbonize the global energy system. As White put it, fusion is more likely to complement other clean energy sources over the next half-century, rather than replace existing power plants overnight. That reality means governments must continue prioritizing renewable deployment now, instead of betting that fusion will rescue the world within a decade.