William Polen, Senior Director at the United States Energy Association (USEA), addressed participants of Energy & Investment Days 2026 in a recorded video message.
His strategic remarks explored how the rapid growth of AI and the digital economy is reshaping energy demand, highlighting both the challenges facing the Western Balkans and new opportunities for investment, infrastructure development and cooperation with the United States.
We thank William Polen for his valuable contribution to the conference and for sharing his perspective on the region’s energy future.
Thank you for the opportunity to join you here in Novi Sad. I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person, but I am very pleased to have the opportunity to offer a few thoughts on the transformation now taking place in the global electricity sector, and what it may mean for the Western Balkans.
The digital revolution built around artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data centers is accelerating. And the digital economy ultimately depends on something very physical: enormous amounts of electricity.
The International Energy Agency estimates that global data-center electricity consumption will more than double, from roughly 415 terawatt-hours in 2024 to about 945 terawatt-hours in 2030. By the end of this decade, the world’s data centers alone could consume slightly more electricity than all of Japan consumes today. And the United States is already experiencing the scale of this change. The IEA expects U.S. data-center electricity consumption to increase by roughly 130 percent between 2024 and 2030. That growth will not be confined to the United States.
Countries around the world will compete to host AI, cloud computing, and data centers, because these facilities will increasingly become part of the basic infrastructure of a modern economy. That competition also has an important strategic dimension. Governments will increasingly view domestic and regional computing infrastructure as an element of digital sovereignty. That is the ability to protect sensitive data, reduce dependence on infrastructure located elsewhere, and participate fully in the economic benefits of the digital revolution.
For the Western Balkans, that creates a significant opportunity. But capturing that opportunity will depend heavily on the strength of the region’s electricity systems.
AI and data centers require more than large quantities of electricity. They require reliable electricity, high power quality, redundancy, secure fuel supplies, strong transmission access, and confidence that new load can be connected within a commercially reasonable period of time. That means the power sector becomes part of the region’s digital competitiveness.
So, let me highlight five challengesI would highlight.
First, much of the region still depends on aging coal and lignite generation. Many of these plants are expensive to operate, environmentally challenging, and approaching the point where major refurbishment or replacement will be required. At the same time, the region must add capacity for economic growth and new digital demand.
Second, transmission constraints remain a serious limitation. Internal congestion can restrict the amount of electricity that can actually move across borders, even where interconnections already exist.
Third, distribution systems were largely designed for one-way power flows from central generating stations to consumers. They now have to accommodate rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles, and other distributed energy resources.
Fourth, fuel security remains an issue. Several countries continue to depend heavily on a limited number of suppliers or supply routes. Greater diversity of fuel sources and stronger regional interconnection can reduce that vulnerability.
And fifth, there is the question of bankability. The region needs very large amounts of private capital. Investors will look closely at the creditworthiness of counterparties, the transparency and redictability of regulatory frameworks, the enforceability of contracts, and whether projects can recover their full costs.
These challenges are significant. They are also solvable.
So, let me offer a few suggestions on how the United States and the Western Balkan can partner to resolve these challenges.
Renewable generation will continue to expand, and wind, solar, hydropower, storage, and demand flexibility will all play important roles. The system will also require firm, dispatchable capacity that can operate when needed. Modern combined-cycle gas generation is one of the few mature technologies that can be deployed at scale, replace aging thermal capacity, support the integration of variable renewables, and serve rapidly growing industrial and data-center demand.
This is an area where the United States can be a strong partner. The United States brings energy resources, private capital, technology, and project Development expertise.
We can provide fuel. We can provide technology. And we can provide investment and the experience needed to structure and develop major energy projects.
On fuel, the Western Balkans has access to a more diversified regional gas market.
U.S. LNG, Caspian gas and potentially the Eastern Mediterranean gas can provide alternatives to traditional supply routes. But the infrastructure and the markets have to allow that gas to move.
That means continuing to develop interconnectors, removing bottlenecks, adopting and harmonizing market rules, and creating the commercial conditions that allow suppliers and buyers to enter into financeable long-term contracts.
On electricity networks, the opportunity is no less compelling. New transmission and distribution will be needed. There is also substantial value in making the existing grid more productive.
U.S. companies are developing and deploying grid-enhancing technologies, advanced conductors, dynamic line ratings, power-flow control, and other tools that can increase the capacity of existing infrastructure and help system operators manage a more complex power system.
But regulation should create incentives for those technologies when they can deliver additional capacity faster and more economically than conventional expansion alone.
And then there is investment. Capital is mobile.
The Western Balkans is competing not only with its neighbors, but with Central Europe, the Gulf, Asia, the United States and other regions seeking the same capital, the same technology companies and the same data-center investment.
Energy investors compare opportunities across countries and across regions.
They will invest where projects can be permitted, financed, and connected to the grid
within a reasonable period of time; where markets are transparent; where contracts are enforceable; and where there are credible counterparties capable of purchasing the power or fuel that a project produces.
The United States can provide fuel, capital, technology, and project-development expertise.
The Western Balkans can create the conditions that allow those resources to be deployed at scale.
If those pieces come together, the growth of artificial intelligence and the digital economy can become one of the Western Balkans’ most important opportunities for investment, economic growth, and deeper integration into global economy.
Thank you very much. I wish you a productive and successful conference.