Thursday, January 25th 2024
AI Power Consumption Surge Strains US Electricity Grid, Coal-Powered Plants Make a Comeback
The artificial intelligence boom is driving a sharp rise in electricity use across the United States, catching utilities and regulators off guard. In northern Virginia's "data center alley," demand is so high that the local utility temporarily halted new data center connections in 2022. Nation-wide, electricity consumption at data centers alone could triple by 2030 to 390 TeraWatt Hours. Add in new electric vehicle battery factories, chip plants, and other clean tech manufacturing spurred by federal incentives, and demand over the next five years is forecast to rise at 1.5%—the fastest rate since the 1990s. Unable to keep pace, some utilities are scrambling to revise projections and reconsider previous plans of closing fossil fuel plants even as the Biden administration pushes for more renewable energy. Some older coal power plans will stay online, until the grid adds more power production capacity. The result could be increased emissions in the near term and risks of rolling blackouts if infrastructure continues lagging behind demand.
The situation is especially dire in Virginia, the world's largest data center hub. The state's largest utility, Dominion Energy, was forced to pause new data center connections for three months last year due to surging demand in Loudoun County. Though connections have resumed, Dominion expects load growth to almost double over the next 15 years. With data centers, EV factories, and other power-hungry tech continuing rapid expansion, experts warn the US national electricity grid is poorly equipped to handle the spike. Substantial investments in new transmission lines and generation are urgently needed to avoid businesses being turned away or blackouts in some regions. Though many tech companies aim to power operations with clean energy, factories are increasingly open to any available power source.
Source:
Bloomberg
The situation is especially dire in Virginia, the world's largest data center hub. The state's largest utility, Dominion Energy, was forced to pause new data center connections for three months last year due to surging demand in Loudoun County. Though connections have resumed, Dominion expects load growth to almost double over the next 15 years. With data centers, EV factories, and other power-hungry tech continuing rapid expansion, experts warn the US national electricity grid is poorly equipped to handle the spike. Substantial investments in new transmission lines and generation are urgently needed to avoid businesses being turned away or blackouts in some regions. Though many tech companies aim to power operations with clean energy, factories are increasingly open to any available power source.
35 Comments on AI Power Consumption Surge Strains US Electricity Grid, Coal-Powered Plants Make a Comeback
Mining by a different name lol
Sounds like a solid plan
GGWP skynet
That's the main issue with radioactive materials, can't see or smell or taste or feel, and not everyone has a Geiger counter. Nothing wrong with coal if you have great scrubbers, electrostatic precips, low sulphur coal, etc. Just a crap ton of CO2.
The biggest issue with human race is overall consumption for wants vs needs. If there were more tiers for cost, then maybe people/companies wouldn't be so wasteful.
Also, the best grids are well maintained ones and ones that have multiple types of generating stations.
I know how to solve this energy problem. If everyone in the USA (illegal alien or not) gets an exercise bike that's hooked up to a generator and we divide up the work day into 6 shifts, we can solve the employment, obesity, climate, and energy crisis at the same time.
Where's the industry in paving the path forward then? All they show is complacency and stagnation, even in the face of 30-40 years of knowledge about climate impact. I think you need a reality check. EV adoption if left to the market would be dead in its tracks by now, you wouldn't even have Tesla (its heavily subsidized). We'd still be full on diesels and other ICE's that even to this day lie about the amount of real world emissions and the cancerous substances in them. Despite AdBlue, despite dieselgate, despite decades of supposed 'innovation in cars'.
The chicken-egg situation wrt EV's and chargers was clear from the get-go, and is natural in any paradigm shift. Our gov 'hates its citizens'... has absolutely nothing to do with any of this, even if it were true. Maybe you should read a history book or two.
Solar and wind-powered generation also occupy too much area for the power they actually generate, and there's also an environmental hit for the production of their equipment and the area they're installed. So all things considered, I say nuclear is the cleanest (and also the most regular throughput) generation available.
What the fuck man, can we go back please?