the "growing demand" is the AI datacenters (the linked story goes into detail). it's the direct result, so while it might feel soothing that this other story doesnt actually mention "AI" it's mostly just an omission.
(edit) the issue is that there's a sudden tight timeline and yes as other comments mention it's too bad the issue wasn't addressed sooner, but that's not very unusual when there's no major impetus to force a change. and that whether or not AI/LLM is a net good for society (I literally have Claude writing code for me as I type this), the energy issue is one that seems to be a real one (unlike the water issue which mostly seems to be not so real).
the town^H^H^H^H region (edit) is already in the process of expanding their infrastructure to get power from elsewhere so things will be "fine", but this is a terrible time to have a government that is rabidly cancelling non-fossil energy projects as fast as possible.