6 7 Energy powers progress. AI unlocks possibility. Together, they represent the most transformative force of our time. We are at a pivotal juncture - where the convergence of artificial intelligence and energy systems will define the next era of human advancement. AI has the potential to accelerate discovery, drive productivity, reshape industries, and change the fabric of everyday life. Yet without abundant and reliable energy, it remains just that - potential. AI doesn’t run on code alone — it runs on gigawatts. While photons are free and abundant, electrons are expensive, meaning that the cost of intelligence will eventually be determined by the cost of energy. In the short term, the energy demand surge from AI will be met by using the existing generating capacity more effectively, through increasing utilization, reducing curtailment, delaying retirements, and connecting new capacity to the grid faster. We need more connected, intelligent and sustainable energy infrastructure, not a patchwork of fixes or incremental upgrades, but bold, integrated, system- wide solutions - designed to scale, built to last, and ready to power the future. Today’s grid is the largest machine in the world but has been underfunded and undervalued and has become overstretched and overregulated. We need to get more out of the existing grid today by using tools such as dynamic line-rating, grid topology, and the strategic siting and use of available storage. Shifting demand from peak hours can help to utilize today’s capacity in a smarter way, leveraging the capabilities of AI to help us while ensuring that we sustain affordable and reliable energy, allowing everyone to prosper. 7 No single energy source will be enough to meet these rapidly growing energy needs. We will need an “and, and” approach, combining cheap renewables with flexible gas and clean nuclear, backed up with storage and supported by a 21st century grid with a “backbone” to move electrons over large distances, batteries that time-shift demand, and synchronized condensers and modern inverters that manage frequency stability. Today’s AI can accelerate the next generation of technology and materials for an optimum future low-carbon energy system. Over time, we have been able to allow our energy system to evolve - yet today we are going through a complete metamorphosis. It is complicated and there are no easy answers. Energy and AI are twin organs, connected to fast-forward the future and accelerate human progress. This is the moment to shape the future and realize this historic opportunity for humanity. ENACT is building a cross-sector community and providing leadership to advance an integrated roadmap for action to realize the full transformative potential of AI. It’s convening cross-sector leaders, bridging disconnects, and catalyzing the solutions that will ultimately deliver the bold, integrated, system-wide solutions that are designed to scale, built to last, and ready to power the next leap for human progress. We need to invest today for tomorrow’s intelligence - tomorrow’s arteries and organs - that will need an estimated $1.5 trillion of annual global spend to 2050. Today’s finance system may not be ready to support the huge surge of capital required over the next 30 years, requiring us to unlock new sources of asset-backed credit to leverage future capacity. Tomorrow’s data centers will be like dropping a city the size of Denver on the map in one go, which will need to be placed not only where the electrons live but also where there is water, land, labor, low exposure to weather events and supportive regulation. However, as with Rome, Denver was not built in a day - its population rose gradually over 70 years to three million people, allowing its energy system to grow with prosperity over time. Data centers will need all that growth at the flip of a switch - and yet when a circuit breaker trips in a house, no one notices, but when a data center load changes, all our lights flicker. INTRODUCTION Energy is the beating heart of the global economy and AI is its brains. Connecting the heart and brain is a growing network of arteries - the power grid - essential to avoid the system blacking out. Unattributed quote The AI-Energy Nexus is not tomorrow’s issue, it is today’s imperative. Unattributed quote