Energy Dept. eyes hyperscalers as future leaders in carbon-free energy adoption
Microsoft and Constellation Energy reached a deal that would restart Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear plant (above) in Pennsylvania to supply power to data centers. The Dept. of Energy is looking for more tech firms to tap carbon-free energy sources for facilities. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images
Leadership from the Department of Energy spoke on Wednesday about its ongoing discussions with leading data computing companies to continue grid decarbonization efforts amid artificial intelligence acceleration.
As the Department of Energy sets its sights on enhancing artificial intelligence research and development efforts, agency leadership is focusing on scaling clean power sources to meet the growth in energy demand more AI applications will exact on the U.S. energy grid.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm noted at NVIDIA’s AI Summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday that the energy grid load is projected to grow by 15% as AI software continues to consume more power, adding that her agency is focusing on improving the infrastructure of carbon-free energy sources, including nuclear and geothermal power.
“We're having conversations about next generation nuclear reactors, small modular reactors –– that's very exciting,” she said. “Some are partnering with big reactor companies to be able to power data centers, which is great.”
Granholm cited Microsoft’s recent partnership with Constellation Energy resulting in a 20-year power purchase to launch a new clean energy center and restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear reactor to support grid decarbonization efforts by pivoting to low-or-no emission power sources for needs like data centers.
As a hyperscaler — tech companies that operate large data center networks and offer computing and storage services — Microsoft’s support is particularly important to Granholm and Energy leadership as they work to keep large data centers on American soil.
“Our conversations with the hyperscalers have been, ‘Yes, there's more clean energy on the grid, but if you're going to build a gigawatt data center, we want you to bring your power with you. We want to have you generate clean power,’” Granholm said. “And for the most part, they have been agreeing, and it's important for them to do that.”
Granholm noted that if such companies don’t bring the power with them, communities will reject data centers being built in their regions because the increased power demand will fall on the backs of the local population.
She added that Energy is also working to scale geothermal energy for baseload power and renewable energy battery storage systems for long-duration energy storage.
“Power is going to be key to…making sure we can use AI for good and have that AI be here in the United States,” she said.
Helena Fu, the director of the office of critical and emerging technologies at Energy, echoed Granholm’s emphasis on the need for hyperscalers to commit to clean energy development. She noted that load growth has been consistent alongside rapid digitization, and that newer technologies can help usher in more sustainable solutions to data center demand.
“As we look at this next phase of load growth, which we have been planning for and will need to meet our net zero commitments, I think the thing to remember is that we now have new technologies available now and new tools available now,” Fu said. “At DOE, we are absolutely mobilizing all of the various tools, whether they're grants or loans or tax credits, to help support various stakeholders in this discussion.”