In the era of booming artificial intelligence applications, many large technology companies are constantly investing in expanding data centers to train large-scale language models, leading to a sharp increase in their electricity consumption.
The surge in electricity consumption by American technology companies may complicate the Biden administration's climate goals. Biden has pointed out plans to decarbonize the power industry by 2035 to address climate change.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated on Tuesday (June 4th) local time that the Biden administration is requiring large technology companies to invest in new climate friendly power generation facilities to meet the surging electricity demand in their data centers.
In his latest speech, Graham stated, "We have been in negotiations with data companies. Some of these large enterprises have committed to achieving net zero emissions and have also expressed a desire to see clean base load electricity."
She also said that if technology companies plan to obtain clean energy from the grid, they should make a contribution. "Therefore, there are many discussions currently taking place between technology companies and utility companies, as well as between technology companies and nuclear energy companies."
Exploring clean energy technologies
At present, data center business has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, at the cost of crazy consumption of electricity. A report from the Electric Power Research Institute last week pointed out that by the end of 2030, data center electricity consumption may account for 9% of the total electricity generation in the United States, more than twice the current electricity consumption.
The report points out that based on the popularity of technologies such as generative artificial intelligence and the energy efficiency of new data centers, the annual growth rate of electricity consumption in the data center industry is expected to be between 3.7% and 15% by 2030, which means that by the end of 2030, electricity consumption may double compared to existing levels.
If technology companies want to achieve their net zero emissions targets, nuclear energy may be a way out. Granholm revealed that the government has discussed the possibility of companies joining forces to use small modular nuclear reactors for nuclear power generation, and envisions that companies may be able to achieve cost reduction through simultaneous ordering.
Currently, NuScale Power, headquartered in Oregon, is the only company to obtain permission from US regulatory agencies to build small modular reactors. However, last year the company had to terminate its carbon free electricity project because it was unable to secure sufficient electricity orders. This is a blow to the Biden administration's clean energy agenda.
Granholm borrowed the example of NuScale and pointed out, "This is a lesson: if you want to build a new nuclear power plant, you must have a clear sales path."
Last week, the White House announced new measures to stimulate the development of new nuclear power plants in the United States. The US government has stated that this is a huge potential source of carbon free electricity necessary to address climate change.
But the problem is that there are currently no new nuclear power plants built in the United States. The latest nuclear reactor in the United States is the Vogtle nuclear power plant located in Georgia. When it was put into commercial operation in 2023 and 2024, it fell several years behind schedule and exceeded the budget by billions of dollars.
At the same time, Graham added in his speech that in addition to nuclear energy, technology companies are also researching other clean energy technologies, including geothermal energy.