Green Energy’s Role In A World Where AI Data Centers Are Power Hungry

On a sunny afternoon in April, a huge power outage swept the Iberian peninsula. Millions of people were left in the dark while the companies closed, travelers were blocked and the communication lines were cut. The diagnoses are still pending, but this incident has triggered a conversation on the best suited fuel sources to guide us while artificial intelligence and data centers are experiencing rapid growth.

Renewable energies are essential and their ability to support the growth of AI and the data center improves due to the progress of energy storage, network intelligence and innovation on the request. However, in the predictable future, we must integrate sources of energy specific to natural gas to ensure reliability. Although green energy and nuclear energy are the backbone over time, the most optimal approach is to combine them now.

“Thanks to a massive increase in the adoption of renewable energies and the storage of batteries across public services in the United States, as well as the emergence of technologies improving the grid, our network is better equipped to manage these stress factors than only 5 years ago,” explains Jim Spencer, director general of Renewable exus North America, in an exchange of email. “Renewable energies are essential for AI data centers to be able to follow a rapid growing demand, maintain low costs and stimulate the next wave of economic innovation.”

Political supporters blame the competing energy sources for previous power outages. Inevitably, traditional fuel defenders point out that wind and solar energy only operate when weather conditions allow, requiring batteries or natural gas, which causes additional costs.

In this context, renewable energies provided 70% of the energy during the Iberian Peninsula failure. However, this breakdown cannot be attributed to wind and solar, but rather to the inability of the grid to respond quickly to unexpected problems. Two significant power losses occurred in subjugations in southwest Spain, causing a sudden drop in power supply and affecting the network’s tension and frequency-the heart rate of the grid.

According to Spencer, Green Energy is the cheapest and fastest to integrate into the network. It works effectively alongside additional support systems such as batteries, response to demand and natural gas production to start quickly. Indeed, battery costs have dropped by more than 85% since 2010, which has improved reliability. Renewable energies can be colored next to modular data centers.

“We must understand preparation and commercial costs”, compared to the moment when the data centers are put online, “adds Ron Schoff, director of R&D for the EPRI, during a United States Energy Association Virtual press event in which I participated. “Our big challenge is that the demand for the data center is coming to date and the next two to three years”, noting that the system must be able to respond to rapid changes in supply and demand for electricity.

Technically higher wind turbines and solar panels

Consider the wind harvest, which affirms that its turbines are technologically superior and designed to operate under the most difficult conditions. Because its turbines continue to operate when others fail, they can produce electricity even during storms or the stress of the grid, preventing power failures and maintaining the stability of the grid.

The company declares that its wind turbines are unique because they are vertical and closer to the ground than the large conventional horizontal turbines. Because they turn around a vertical pole, they can handle the wind of any direction. They can also operate in gusty and jerky conditions, often near the ground, where other turbines fight.

“No one has yet made a turbine that can manage the turbulent conditions in gusts near the ground,” explains Kevin Wolf, CEO of Wind Harvest, during the press event. “They did not have aero -lastic modeling. Our turbines can then be integrated into these wind farms, allowing the creation of an AI data center in California or other windy places near the ground. We can use the wind when it blows and also when it is calm. This opens up an entirely new resource. ”

In the current state of things, renewable energies must work with other fuels to meet the urgent and high requirements of AI data centers. These centers have enormous power needs and cannot afford to disconnect, requiring high -quality and affordable storage or backup solutions, such as natural gas units that are instantly triggered.

Meanwhile, AI is advancing and various clean energy technologies – including long -term storage, clean hydrogen and small modular nuclear reactors – are not yet scalable. This leaves natural gas and large nuclear power plants to operate 24/7 to supply AI data centers. The Trump administration promotes coal for this purpose, although it cannot compete without substantial subsidies or regulatory favors. Coal is also adamant and slow to accelerate, making it a difference.

“In an increasingly challenged global market by apparently infinite energy demand from AI, we need a completely absent approach from energy production which extends the definition of renewable energies.

The mission of the public services sector is reliability

The public services sector aims to provide reliable power to the lowest possible rates. This commitment contradicts the qualities of coal, which is not only dirty but also more expensive than renewable energies or natural gas. Most American coal power plants have decades and renovating them are too expensive. Public services make long -term decisions based on cost projections aged 20 to 40, while coal market prospects continue to decrease.

Energy consumption is expected to skyrocketing over the next 5 to 10 years due to the thrust for decarbonization and electrification and growth of AI and data centers. To meet this challenge, we need modern grid technologies that can extend the network’s ability to manage increased demand for electricity. At the same time, we have to remove coal, nuclear and natural gas power plants that have been in service for four decades. Welcome, renewable energies, which intensify; Solar and battery storage represented 81% of the addition of electricity production capacity last year.

Large IA companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta have committed to fully operating on renewable energies. This initiative responds to investors and regulatory pressures to reduce emissions and improve environmental fingerprints. AI data centers can be colocated in regions rich in renewable, which reduces stress on the central network.

Guess what? About 260,000 megawatts of power are about to reach the American network – more than double the current output of power plants. And here is reality: according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 95% of this power is generated from solar, wind and battery storage.

“This comes down to the electrical network,” said Jason Huang, CEO of TS Drutor, during the virtual press event. “We do not have enough capacity in the electricity network. There are a lot of bottlenecks. We have the new generation advanced driver available – ready to be deployed on a large scale to solve this problem, in a way that brings you affordability. ”

Unfortunately, the power failure in the Iberian Peninsula is not an anomaly but rather a consequence of regulatory inadequacies, grid technologies and extreme weather events. The addition of electricity demand to these existing dynamics only increases challenges and opportunities, requiring greater research and development in grid and advanced energy technologies. The ultimate objective is to ensure that the clean energy supply can meet real -time requests for data centers.