Two of the Pacific Northwest’s longtime, best-known business leaders have added their voices to the chorus of concern about the looming possibility of the region’s energy demand outpacing the supply, creating a possible crisis.

I reached out to James Warjone and David Sabey in the wake of a new energy forecast that indicates demand for electricity is spiking across the Pacific Northwest, and its potential to outpace our supply in the coming years is growing,

Warjone is the longtime CEO and chairman of the family-owned timberlands and development-focused Port Blakely Cos., and Sabey created and now chairs the five-decade-old development company that may own more data centers than anyone.

Warjone, who chaired the Washington Roundtable, the organization of state CEOs, is convinced that the increased energy demands facing the region will force some choices between growth aspirations and meeting the demands of climate control.

“Data centers and climate rules are pushing the power grid to what could become a breaking point,” says Warjone, who has manufacturing clients in the Grant County region.

It was his mention of data centers that prompted me to reach out to Sabey, whose Sabey Corp., headquartered in Tukwila, Washington, owns data centers in Quincy in Grant County and in various states across the country and at one time owned shopping centers, including Spokane's NorthTown Malls.

“Yes, demand is growing,” says Sabey, about half of whose real estate portfolio of 6 million square feet is data centers.

And Sabey concedes that he has been sought out by prospective clients whose power needs he didn’t have the capacity to meet.

Sabey, well known for being frank, candid, and outspoken on issues important to him, says, “Population is growing, and no new generation capacity has been built in decades, and in fact, we are shutting generation down. But we are constantly spending public billions on new roads, airports, light rail, and on mass transit that no one is using, but nothing at all on large energy production.”

Adds Warjone, “Government climate policies are contributing to a looming electric crisis that is urgent but could be avoidable.”

He explains “avoidable” means, “We could be stretching out the climate goals and backing away from mandates that make no sense.”

Of course, the initiative on the November ballot that would repeal the state’s Climate Commitment Act could take care of such mandates. But opposing the repeal are major companies like Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.

They believe the act, which has already raised $1.9 billion through auctions involving polluters to be used for various environment and infrastructure programs, is crucial for that funding.

So it will be a major source of discussion in not just the general election but likely the governor’s race.

Lest anyone read Warjone’s comment to suggest he’s not in accord with carbon containment needs and goals, it should be noted he played a pivotal role in shaping Port Blakely Cos.’ sustainable forestry practices and land-management strategies that included environmental stewardship.

A report by the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, which has members that include public and private utilities serving millions of customers, was compelling in its key conclusion: Without new power sources, transmission lines and battery storage, the region’s long-standing and reliable energy system could falter when people need electricity the most.

The report says the Northwest is going to need 4,000 megawatts of additional generation just to keep pace with power demand over the next five years. That’s about 20% of the region’s current output.

Not only is demand for energy rising faster than expected, it’s also surging more severely and at new times. Clean-energy goals are forcing the closure of power plants run on fossil fuels, but renewable projects aren’t outpacing that lost power.

New information on electric vehicles and computer chip manufacturing as well as data centers suggests power demand in these sectors is growing and over the next five years this demand will likely grow substantially.

The Northwest has also seen booming interest from tech corporations seeking to locate and expand data centers and chip manufacturing. A huge example is in Idaho’s Treasure Valley where tech giant Meta Platforms Inc. recently announced plans to build an $800 million data center in Kuna, south of Boise. And Micron Technology Inc. is also undertaking a record-breaking $15 billion expansion of its facilities in Boise to support chip fabrication operations—the largest private investment in Gem State history.

Meanwhile, the increasing demands of electrification to help blunt the worst effects of climate change are still coming, with everything from cars to heating systems that presently run on fossil fuels being replaced by electricity. And climate commitments by regional governments to clean up their power supplies to be carbon neutral.

Sabey is confident innovation will alleviate much of the concern about energy crisis.

“Lots of innovation is coming. Create demand, and solutions will come,” Sabey says, a comment he reinforced by sending me a copy of a newsletter called Interesting Engineering.

It highlighted a U.K. company named RheEnergies Ltd. that has patented a fluid that is more than twice as dense as water and is therefore needed in much less quantity to generate the same amount of power.

According to the company’s estimates, the energy generation capacity of its fluid is the same as that of water but at 40% volume, meaning the fluid could be stored in Olympic-sized pools instead of having to build large reservoirs.

It’s an example of Sabey’s comment: “Efficiencies, when they come, will be dramatic.”

Another example is California-based Advanced Rail Energy Storage LLC, which uses rail technology to harness the power of gravity to provide utility-scale storage.

The company’s product, about ready for utilities around the country that have followed the test model on a hillside near Pahrump, Nevada, is efficient electric motors driving mass cars uphill and, when needed, they are deployed downhill, delivering electric power to the grid.

And a rebirth of focus on nuclear energy in this state in the form of small reactors will likely have a significant role in resolving future energy needs with the Legislature budgeting $25 million for Energy Northwest to begin developing a new generation of nuclear plants. But that funding is also tied to continuation of the Climate Commitment Act.

And in a deal announced a few days ago, Microsoft and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management have struck an agreement for the development of renewable energy that the companies say could make one of the biggest corporate purchases of green energy to date.

Brookfield says it plans to develop over 10.5 gigawatts of new wind and solar farms for Microsoft, which is looking to power its data centers and other operations globally with carbon-free electricity by 2030.

Sabey says, “We’re just on the cusp of a breakout of a number of energy innovations.”

Mike Flynn is the retired publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal and writes a regular column called Flynn’s Harp.