Google’s prime government confirmed the corporate is engaged on large-scale knowledge facilities that may use greater than 1 GW of energy. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in a speech final week at Carnegie Mellon College in Pittsburgh mentioned small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) may probably be used to generate the wanted electrical energy.
Pichai mentioned that Google’s objective of being a carbon-neutral firm by 2030 will likely be challenged by the necessity to develop knowledge facilities amid the growth in synthetic intelligence (AI). He mentioned that doesn’t imply the group will miss its objective. Google reportedly is placing collectively a crew taking a look at carbon-free vitality alternate options to serve its rising energy demand worldwide.
“We at the moment are engaged on over 1-GW knowledge facilities, which I didn’t suppose we might be desirous about simply perhaps even two years earlier, and all of this wants vitality, ” Pichai mentioned throughout a chat in Carnegie Mellon’s Highmark Heart as a part of the college’s 2024-25 President’s Lecture Collection. Pichai spoke on “The AI Platform Shift and the Alternative Forward,” as he targeted his firm’s developments in AI and his imaginative and prescient for a future pushed by AI.
“I believe within the brief time period it’s difficult,” mentioned Pichai. “Within the medium to long run I’m optimistic, as a result of I believe it’s additionally bringing a whole lot of capital funding to growing new sources of vitality. We invested very early in wind and photo voltaic as a result of we noticed the chance there. And in the present day, a lot of our knowledge facilities function at round 90% carbon-free foundation.”
Pichai didn’t say Google would use SMRs to energy its knowledge facilities, however famous, “I see the sum of money going into SMRs … for nuclear vitality. And so once I have a look at the capital and innovation stepping into, I’m optimistic within the medium to long run.”
These new vitality sources embrace geothermal. Pichai talked about the corporate’s use of geothermal to energy a Nevada knowledge heart, a part of Google’s plan with Nevada’s NV Power to buy geothermal vitality from an influence plant operated by Fervo Power.
Right here’s a video of Sundar Pichai’s speak at Carnegie Mellon College from the college’s YouTube channel. If you wish to study extra about knowledge facilities and the way the vitality trade is working to unravel the problem of offering electrical energy for these energy-intensive websites, register now to be a part of Expertise POWER Week, scheduled for Oct. Sep 11, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. Hear from consultants throughout the vitality trade as they talk about traits shaping the facility technology panorama, together with the influence of energy demand from knowledge facilities.
Oracle’s $10 Billion Plan
Curiosity in knowledge facilities is burgeoning as firms working with AI look to broaden their footprints and capabilities. Larry Ellison, CEO and founding father of Oracle, has mentioned the corporate plans to speculate greater than $10 billion in an information heart buildout. Ellison at an Oracle occasion earlier this yr mentioned that firm needs to construct “lots of of knowledge facilities,” with at the very least one “in each nation on the planet.”
Microsoft final week mentioned it needs to restart a reactor on the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to energy its AI wants. The corporate in January mentioned an illustration mission in Wyoming, as a part of a collaboration with Caterpillar and Ballard Energy, confirmed how hydrogen gasoline cells can present energy for an information heart.
Amazon Internet Providers (AWS) earlier this yr acquired an information heart campus adjoining to the two.5-GW Susquehanna nuclear plant. Talen Power, the plant’s proprietor, mentioned AWS will purchase energy from the plant for the campus, which additionally features a cryptomine facility.
Final week some media shops, together with Information Heart Dynamics, and social media postings famous that each Microsoft and AWS need to rent managers to steer vitality groups. The AWS posting particularly mentions a principal nuclear engineer for knowledge facilities.
—Darrell Proctor is senior editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
