- 2024 saw data center operators scramble to line up enough power for the new AI facilities coming down the pipe
- Nuclear emerged as a top contender, offering a balance of reliability, capacity and low carbon emissions
- The power polka is set to continue in 2025
Like it or not, 2024 proved to be the year that everyone realized artificial intelligence (AI) wasn’t just some technobabble nonsense (ahem, like the metaverse). For data center operators, that realization brought one key issue sharply into focus: power.
For years, energy concerns have been lurking in the shadows of the data center industry, as utilities in key markets like northern Virginia and Georgia struggled to meet demands to connect new facilities. But AI turned what was a backlog with annoyingly long wait times into an existential crisis.
That’s because AI runs on high power GPUs, which, while technically more efficient than older chips also require more power. So, in addition to requiring more intensive cooling (which you can read all about here), the proliferation of these chips means they’ll also require more energy to be piped to data centers.
Throughout 2024, the industry explored a variety of options to secure its energy future. The likes of New Fortress Energy and Enchanted Rock pitched natural gas as one option, while startup ECL developed a modular off-grid data center design powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
But by and large, the biggest winner of 2024 was nuclear power. Amazon led the charge in March, acquiring Talen Energy’s nuclear-powered Cumulus data center campus in Pennsylvania. And by October, Microsoft, Oracle and Google had all inked their own nuclear power deals.
Data center operators and their partners will likely spend a fair bit of time in the coming year trying to suss out incoming President Donald Trump’s views on nuclear power. We covered what we know so far here.
But nuclear isn’t the only clean option out there.
“New nuclear power faces regulatory hurdles and public concerns, but its potential is undeniable,” Aaron Binkley, VP of Sustainability at Digital Realty, told Fierce. “As an emission-free, 24/7 energy source, it complements intermittent solar and wind, filling critical gaps in the clean energy mix when pursued safely and efficiently.”
Of course, nuclear is a long-term solution. In the short term, companies like Digital Realty are turning to technologies like solar and wind energy to help meet power demand and their carbon reduction targets. Earlier this month, Digital Realty inked a deal to match 11 of its data centers in Illinois with renewable solar energy.
Solar has historically been seen as inadequate as a sole source of data center power due to its fluctuating nature. But Binkley said solar makes sense as a way to cut emissions, especially when combined with other power sources, including wind, geothermal and hydropower.
Looking ahead, Binkley said that from his perspective “data center providers will remain focused on sourcing renewable energy” in the short term, leading to “innovation in how renewables are sourced and integrated” into the grid.
Longer term, “we see an increased role for flexible loads and data centers that work with the energy grid to ensure reliability for all energy consumers. We also see opportunities to use cleaner fuels such as HVO renewable diesel in our backup generators in parallel with operational practices that reduce the need to run generators at all.”
And of course, Binkley said, small modular reactors (like those being pursued by Amazon and Google) as well as enhanced geothermal options “could also bring new capabilities to the energy landscape.”