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AI boom drives clash between grid power vs. energy "islands"
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HOUSTON — A high-stakes fight is emerging as the AI boom accelerates: Should data centers plug into the grid, or operate as energy "islands"?
Key facts
- A lot of people look at that 30% figure from our report and assume it will stop there," said Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview
- HOUSTON — A high-stakes fight is emerging as the AI boom accelerates: Should data centers plug into the grid, or operate as energy "islands
- If we decouple the AI ecosystem from the electric grid ecosystem, I think everybody loses," said Varun Sivaram, founder of startup EmeraldAI, which aims to make data centers more flexible
- The debate is shaping power flows and multibillion-dollar investments, as data centers rival entire cities in their electricity demand
Summary
The debate is shaping power flows and multibillion-dollar investments, as data centers rival entire cities in their electricity demand. Chevron said this week it's working on a deal to build a natural gas plant dedicated to a Microsoft data center in Texas — one of many signs that on-site power is gaining traction. Roughly 30% of all planned data center power capacity is expected to be on-site, according to a February report by Cleanview, a market intelligence firm — up from almost nothing a year earlier. "A lot of people look at that 30% figure from our report and assume it will stop there," said Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview.