Diane Kimura

70% of the world's data centers are in Virginia, near the home turf of Washington DC and the CIA / Pentagon?

● And that these data centers are sucking up almost 1/4 of the electricity demand from the local electric utility Dominion Energy Virginia?

And that the U.S. Department of Energy has noted that AI data centers may soon be utilized to help manage the country's electric grid.

Which means that AI will be able to ensure it receives sufficient electricity from the grid to maintain powering itself with its AI data centers.

In the case of upcoming rolling power blackouts, be prepared for AI data centers (which will help manage the electric grid) to keep powering itself as a top priority.

Pesky humans will likely be much further down the priority list.

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Virginia Explained: Data center expansion, with all its challenges and benefits
yahoo.com

"Humanity is almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century and Virginia
- home to 70% of the world’s data centers -
is on the frontlines of the latest emerging technology: artificial intelligence, or AI.

... Northern Virginia, the densely populated suburbs and exurbs located just outside the nation’s capital, is home to 70% of the world’s data centers, the huge warehouses that store computers’ processing equipment, internet network servers and data drives.

... "Historically, a single data center typically had a demand of 30 megawatts or greater,” Dominion Energy Virginia President Bob Blue said in the utility’s first quarter earnings call.

"However, we’re now receiving individual requests for demand of 60 megawatts to 90 megawatts or greater, and it hasn’t stopped there.”

Larger data center campuses with multiple buildings can "require total capacity ranging from 300 megawatts to as many as several gigawatts,” Blue added.

The utility has connected 94 data centers to date and expects to connect another 15 this year, Blue also told investors.

● Power Engineering reported on a Securities Exchange Commision annual filing that in 2023 and 2022, 24% and 21% of electricity sales from Dominion were to data centers, respectively.

"The concentration of data centers primarily in Loudoun County, Virginia represents a unique challenge and requires significant investments in electric transmission facilities to meet the growing demand,” the SEC filing states.

... Perhaps ironically, as manufacturing and society in general electrifies more, AI might be able to help with those demand side management programs, as noted by the U.S. Department of Energy.

"AI has the potential to significantly improve all these areas of grid management,”
the report stated, and can be a tool that models for capacity and transmission studies, compliance and review for federal permitting, forecasting renewable energy production and creating applications to enhance resilience. ..."

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:07 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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