Data Center Power Consumption

1. Building the 800 VDC Ecosystem for Efficient, Scalable AI Factories 
• "We’re publishing the technical whitepaper 800 VDC Architecture for Next-Generation AI Infrastructure and presenting details at the 2025 OCP Global Summit." [Nvidia-20251013]
2. Nvidia-backed Emerald AI raises $24.5m to turn data centers into grid assets
• "The funding will support the development of its Emerald Conductor platform, which, the company claims, could enable data centers to obtain a grid connection significantly more quickly by managing energy consumption through AI." [DCD-20250705]
3. AI data center power demand could soar to 123GW by 2035 - report 
• "A thirtyfold increase on current levels" [DCD-20250627]
4. US electricity demand to surge to 128GW by 2029 due to data center growth - report [DCD-20241204]
5. "The report identifies data center expansion as the primary driver of this demand, with the PJM Interconnection and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) regions expected to see the largest increases. These regions are expected to add 73GW of new demand by 2029."
6. US electricity demand to surge to 128GW by 2029 due to data center growth - report [DCD-20241204]
• "The report identifies data center expansion as the primary driver of this demand, with the PJM Interconnection and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) regions expected to see the largest increases. These regions are expected to add 73GW of new demand by 2029."
7. AWS global data centers achieved PUE of 1.15 in 2023 [DCD-20241204]
• "Google claims its facilities average a PUE of around 1.1, with its best site offering 1.06. Meta's facilities, on average, offer a PUE of around 1.08. Microsoft's newest facilities achieve a PUE of around 1.12, with a global facility average of 1.18 across the portfolio. Oracle has said its data centers offer a PUE "as low as" 1.15."
8. Meta launches nuclear power RFP, targets 1.4GW for data centers [DCD-20241204]
9. Japan's Hokkaido Electric Power interested in restarting nuclear assets to meet surging data center demand. [DCD-20241120]
10. Nvidia-backed Ubitus K.K looks to build data center powered by nuclear energy. [Bloomberg-20241018]
11. Google to buy power for AI needs from small modular nuclear reactor company Kairos [Reuters-20241015]
• "Google said on Monday it signed the world's first corporate agreement to buy power from multiple small modular reactors to meet electricity demand for artificial intelligence.."
12. Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to return as Microsoft signs 20-year, 835MW AI data center PPA [DCD-20240920]
• "Site expected to return in 2028, in huge nuclear deal."
13. How data centers and the energy sector can sate AI’s hunger for power [MK-20240921]
• "The growth of data centers and the adoption of AI rely on the availability of electric power. Opportunities for investors in power infrastructure and adjacent sectors are quickly emerging."
14. Meta data center electricity consumption hits 14,975GWh, leased data center use nearly doubles. [DCD-20240830]
• "Meta's data center electricity usage reached 14,975,435MWh in 2023, an increase of 34 percent. Of that, some 2,187,020MWh was for leased data center facilities - a significant 97 percent jump year-over-year."
15. RETINAS: Real-Time Infrastructure Accounting for Sustainability. (Meta Engineering-20240826)
• Meta introduces new metric that "allows us to measure server resource usage (e.g., compute, storage) and efficiency in our large-scale data center server fleet in near real-time."
16. Critical role of cooling in sustainable tropical data centres (theedgesingapore.com)
• "Up to 40% of the total energy consumed by a modern data centre is used for cooling. Data centres are typically maintained at 22°C or lower temperatures to ensure that their IT equipment, particularly servers, operates efficiently and does not overheat. Singapore’s warm and tropical climate poses further challenges for cooling data centres."
17.  AI is poised to drive 160% increase in data center power demand - Goldman Sachs [20240514]
• "On average, a ChatGPT query needs nearly 10 times as much electricity to process as a Google search. In that difference lies a coming sea change in how the US, Europe, and the world at large will consume power — and how much that will cost."
18. AI drives sustainability despite concerns over data center energy consumption - SA [20240727]

• Study by the Center for Data Innovation found that some of the rhetoric surrounding the excessive use of energy for AI is unfounded.
• "By transitioning from CPU-only operations to GPU-accelerated systems, HPC and AI workloads can save over 40 terawatt-hours of energy annually, equivalent to the electricity needs of nearly 5 million U.S. homes," from Nvidia Blogpost.
• Research by The Lisbon Council indicates that "Even if the predictions that data centers will soon account for 4% of global energy consumption become a reality, AI is having a major impact on reducing the remaining 96% of energy consumption,".