MISO projects its peak load will climb 35% to 163 GW by 2035. (Utility Dive)
This spike is largely steered by the data center rollout, MISO claimed in a recent forecast. Under MISO's mid-case scenario, data centers would account for 20% of the region’s electricity by 2030 and 25% by 2040. Over 2026-2027, it expects 8-14 GW of new data centers. Most of this predicted growth is parked in the central region (IL, IN, MI).
The hedge: Limited transparency from hyperscalers makes these forecasts tricky, MISO said, and data center demand is ultimately "highly dependent" on AI finding routes to profitability. Similar uncertainty put a huge asterisk on a recent ERCOT demand forecast. Over the next year, the number of data centers that actually crop up will offer a critical peek into the future.