Electricity demand in the U.S. has grown at a rather meager rate of around 0.5% annually over the past couple of decades. However, the country is about to stomp on the gas. Forecasters predict that power demand will grow by 2% to 4% annually through 2030 on average. AI data centers are a big driver of this acceleration because they consume tremendous amounts of power.

While most data center operators want to power their facilities with renewable energy, it can't meet all this demand on its own. That provides an opportunity for natural gas to fill the gap. Because of that, pipeline companies like Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) and Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) could see high-octane growth in the coming years as they work to supply utilities and data center operators with more gas. That could give them more fuel to grow their high-yielding dividends.

Energy Transfer is one of the country's largest energy midstream service providers. It operates an extensive gas pipeline network. Its pipes currently transport gas to 185 power plants either directly or via indirect connections.

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Source Fool.com