On September 22, President Trump stood before the United Nations and said it plainly: "whoever wins S.I." wins. One week later he signed an executive order, Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence, telling the executive branch to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of the old "artificial intelligence" label.
Call it whatever you like. Here is the part that matters to every farmer, factory worker, and family paying a power bill.
Super Intelligence runs on power. Not slogans. Not press releases. Electricity.
The country that can add the most power, the fastest, sets the pace. America has no time to waste.
The Race Is a Power Race
Every data center is, at bottom, a giant electric load. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that U.S. data centers used about 4.4% of the nation's electricity in 2023, and projected that share could climb to between 6.7% and 12% by 2028.
That is a mountain of new demand landing on a grid that was built for a slower century. And it lands on the same grid that runs our farms, our factories, and our homes.
So the question isn't whether America needs more power. We do. The question is how fast we can get it on the wires.
Speed Is the Whole Game
Here is the hard truth about timelines.
The big gas turbines that anchor the American grid are sold out years in advance. GE Vernova, the largest American maker, reported a backlog of gas turbine orders and slot reservations of 116 gigawatts this summer, and it is already taking reservations for 2031 deliveries. The Electric Power Research Institute puts the lead time for a new large gas turbine at five years or more.
That is not a knock on gas. Natural gas is the backbone of American power, and nuclear is the future of firm, around-the-clock electricity. We should build both. But a large turbine ordered today likely won't spin until the next decade.
Solar plays on a different clock.
Once a big solar farm breaks ground, crews can build it in about a year. One 355-megawatt project in Texas was on track to be mechanically complete in roughly twelve months, with grid hookup about four months later. A 120-megawatt project in Illinois went from start to finish in about sixteen months.
And solar is modular. A large project can come online in phases, with the first section sending power to the grid while crews finish the next.
Developers know it. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, solar makes up 51% of the 86 gigawatts of new generating capacity planned for the U.S. grid in 2026. If it all comes online, that would be a record year.
In a race measured in months, the fastest power wins. Solar is the fastest new power America can build.
Built in America, by Americans
Fast power only counts as an America First win if we build it ourselves.
Good news: we are. American factories crossed 100 gigawatts of cumulative solar module production in the second quarter of 2026, according to a factory-by-factory analysis reported by pv magazine. More than 70% of that output has come since late 2022.
The Solar Energy Industries Association now counts 75.3 gigawatts of operating U.S. module manufacturing capacity, enough to cover all of America's expected solar demand this year. Solar and storage manufacturing now reaches 41 states and Puerto Rico, putting Americans to work on factory floors from coast to coast.
That is energy dominance you can see. American panels, built in American plants, by American workers, powering American Super Intelligence.
Private Capital, Not New Bailouts
Conservatives are right to be skeptical of big government spending sprees. We don't need another one.
Utility-scale solar is built with private capital. Investors put their own money at risk, and they get paid when the power flows. Landowners sign voluntary leases and earn steady income. Local communities gain a new source of revenue.
We are not asking Washington for new bailouts. We are asking Washington to get out of the way: speed up permits, clear the backlog of grid connections, and respect the right of landowners to say yes.
That is the free-market path to more power. Let private builders compete, and let the best builders win.
China Is Building. Are We?
Our rivals understand that power is the foundation of everything that comes next.
China added 543 gigawatts of new generating capacity in 2025, according to its National Energy Administration, as reported by Bloomberg. The United States added 53 gigawatts of utility-scale capacity that same year, our biggest year since 2002, according to EIA. Bloomberg also reported that the power China has added since the end of 2021 is larger than the entire U.S. power system.
On solar alone, the think tank Ember found that China's 2025 solar additions were larger than the total solar capacity installed in the United States.
We don't beat that by copying Beijing's central planning. We beat it with what has always made America win: free people, private capital, and American factories that out-build and out-hustle the competition.
All of the Above, Fastest First
Energy dominance means all of the above. Gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar. America needs every reliable electron it can produce.
But when the clock is running, you lead with your fastest player. Today, that's solar, paired with batteries, built on American land and made in American factories.
Every month we wait is a month of power we don't have. Every gigawatt we build here is a gigawatt we don't have to beg for, buy from, or lose to someone else.
Make Solar Great Again
Winning the Super Intelligence race isn't about hype. It's about power, and power is about speed.
American-made, privately financed solar can be built faster than almost anything else on the menu. It puts paychecks in our factory towns and lease checks in our farm country. And it keeps America ahead.
Whoever builds power fastest wins. Let's make sure it's us.
