Monday, 26 May 2025
Meanwhile, we have the bacon sandwich approach
The winds of change are howling through electricity grids
Since 2022, AI -related firms have stormed the S&P 500 market — growing by $12 trillion dollars.
The IEA just posted a whole report dedicated to AI. The demand from data-centers is so large in some places it is already rivaling the kind of monster consumption we are used to seeing from aluminum smelters. There are six states in the United States where data centers already consume over 10% of the electricity supply. In Ireland, data centers swallow about 20% of the electricity.
Currently, a normal data center consumes the same amount of electricity as 100,000 houses. But the new gargantuan data centers under construction will consume 20 times as much — equivalent to adding 2 million homes to the grid...
The whole piece is well worth reading as a reminder of Ed Miliband's bacon sandwich approach to electricity generation.
Countries with a record of reliable and affordable power will be best placed to unlock data centre growth, localise the computing power that is critical to homegrown AI development, and spur the IT industry more generally...
History will show that countries with energy to spare will take over the world, and maybe the solar system.
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8 comments:
Two Tier defend set.
NZ has, or had, huge, untapped hydropower capacity on the South Island. Could AI beasties be built there or would the cost of the data-cabling be too much? Awfully remote, NZ.
dearieme - it imagine comes down to cost, security and timescales in the rush to build the things. I don't know, maybe NZ hydropower doesn't fit the timescales unless it's available now.
Tries again: Two Tier delenda est.
dearieme - ah, I wondered if that was it.
"Could you have a look at the energy dashboard and let me know how long we've got power, before I ask my main question?"
New Zealand does have Hydro Power Stations but may have difficulty building any more because of the green knuckle draggers . There is also the concern about how earthquake proof they may be depending on where they were built and where the water would go in the event of a big shake. At the moment the Government is encouraging a big increase in mineral extraction but the Greens are desperately searching for the ' Lesser Spotted Something or Other " to try and stop any development.
Delenda est reads better, yes.
Sam - "The power available should be sufficient to"
John - interesting, but the knuckle dragger opposition is not surprising. The earthquake problem crossed my mind but I've no idea how much of an issue it would be. Sounds like an interesting longer term idea though, major power exporter.
James - it does.
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