Under the hood of data center power demand

Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Driven by the AI boom, data centers’ energy demand could account for 9% of U.S. power generation by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. That's more than double current usage.

So how do we meet that demand? And what impacts will it have on the grid and decarbonization?

In this episode, Shayle talks to Brian Janous, former vice president of energy at Microsoft and current co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Brian talks through the options for meeting data center demand, including shaping computational loads to avoid system peaks and deploying grid-enhancing technologies. He and Shayle also cover topics like:

• Why AI-driven demand will be big, even with “zombie requests” in the interconnection queue
• How hyperscalers are “coming to grips” with the reality that they may not hit decarbonization targets as quickly as planned
• Why Brian thinks efficiency improvement alone “isn’t going to save us” from rising load growth
• Why Brian argues that taking data centers off-grid is not a solution
• Options for shaping data center load, such as load shifting, microgrids, and behind-the-meter generation
• How hyperscalers could speed up interconnection by shaping computational loads

Recommended Resources:

Electric Power Research Institute: Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption

The Carbon Copy: New demand is straining the grid. Here’s how to tackle it.

Federal Regulatory Energy Commission: Report | 2024 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment

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