With the rapid development of generative AI, technology giants are intensively laying out in the nuclear energy field.
On October 16th local time, Amazon announced that it has signed three agreements for the development of nuclear reactors, becoming the latest large technology company to seek new energy to meet the growing electricity demand of data centers.
Two days ago, Google signed a power purchase agreement with California nuclear startup Kairos Power, while last month Microsoft reached a similar purchase agreement with energy company Constellation and restarted some equipment at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
Behind the layout of nuclear energy by tech giants is the significant energy demand brought about by the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Raul Martynek, CEO of Data Center Company DataBank, stated in an interview with foreign media that in a typical data center, it takes about 5 to 10 kilowatts to power a rack of servers, but a rack filled with advanced AI computing chips may require over 100 kilowatts of electricity.
The International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook report points out that global electricity demand is growing at a rate of 1000 TWh per year, which is equivalent to an increase in Japan's electricity consumption by one year. Beyond AI, there will be another field that will be a major energy consumer.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others collectively lay out nuclear energy
On October 16th local time, Amazon announced that it has signed three agreements to develop Small Modular Reactor (SMR) nuclear power technology. SMR is an advanced nuclear reactor that occupies a small area and can be built closer to the power grid. Compared with traditional reactors, SMR has a faster construction time and can be put into use faster.
In Washington State, Amazon has signed an agreement with the state utility consortium Energy Northwest to provide funding for the development, licensing, and construction of four advanced SMRs. It is expected that in the first phase, this project will produce an installed capacity of 320 megawatts, which may be expanded to 960 megawatts in the later stage.
Amazon's Climate Commitment Fund also led a $500 million funding round for X-energy, a developer of SMR and fuels. The reactor of Energy Northwest will be developed using X-energy technology invested by Amazon.
In Virginia, Amazon has reached an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project to power cloud computing platform AWS. The power plant is located near the existing North Anna nuclear power plant in Dominion Resources. If the project is realized, it will be able to generate 300 megawatts of electricity.
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said, 'Our agreement will drive the development of new nuclear technologies that will continue to generate electricity for decades to come.'.
Amazon is also the latest large technology company to seek new energy sources to meet the growing electricity demand of data centers.
Two days ago, Google announced that it would purchase electricity from SMR developer Kairos Power. Last month, Microsoft also partnered with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power its data centers.
In addition to investing in the nuclear energy industry under the name of the company, some wealthy individuals also participate in nuclear energy investment in their personal capacity.
For example, Bill Gates has invested over $1 billion in a startup called TerraPower, which is partnering with Warren Buffett's utility company PacifiCorp to develop small reactors. OpenAI founder Ultraman also invested in Oklo, a nuclear energy startup.
ChatGPT query consumes 10 times more energy than Google search! The development of AI stimulates energy demand
We believe that several gigawatts of electricity will be needed in the coming years, and nuclear energy is a huge opportunity, "Garman said.
The development of AI requires a significant amount of energy support. The data shows that the energy required for a single ChatGPT query is almost 10 times that of a Google search. Other forms of generative AI, such as image generation, require even more energy.
Raul Martynek, CEO of Data Center Company DataBank, stated in an interview with foreign media that in a typical data center, it takes about 5 to 10 kilowatts to power a rack of servers, but a rack filled with advanced AI computing chips may require over 100 kilowatts of electricity.
Previously, tech giants have invested heavily in wind and solar energy, but without batteries or other forms of energy storage, wind and solar energy cannot provide a stable power supply at all times.
Michael Terrel, Senior Director of Energy and Climate at Google, said, "The power grid also needs new sources of electricity to support AI technology. Nuclear energy solutions provide a clean, 24/7 power source that can help us reliably meet our electricity needs every day and every hour with carbon free energy
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the capacity factor of nuclear energy is 93.1%, which means it operates at maximum power for over 93% of the time. Its reliability is almost twice that of coal and natural gas, and three times that of wind and solar energy - although the reliability of renewable fuels can be improved through batteries.
Katy Huff, a professor at the University of Urbana Champaign, said, 'This reliability is necessary when your data center needs to operate 365 days a year, every minute of every day, and not be affected by factors such as cloud movement or complex wind directions.'.
IEA: In addition to AI, there is also a major power consumer
Not only technology companies are feeling the pressure brought by power shortages.
On October 16th local time, the International Energy Agency warned that global electricity demand is growing faster than expected, making it more difficult for countries to reduce emissions and control global warming.
According to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook report, the next decade will see a surge in electricity demand from new factories, electric vehicles, air conditioning, and data centers. The global demand for electricity is growing at a rate of 1000 TWh per year, which is equivalent to an increase in Japan's electricity consumption by one year. The organization has also raised its demand forecast for 2035 by 6% to 37371 TWh.
According to foreign media reports, air conditioning sales in India have doubled after experiencing a series of hot weather this year. If the climate continues to warm, the demand for air conditioning may become even stronger. The report states that by 2030, air conditioning will require an additional 697TWh of electricity, more than three times the additional demand for computer data centers.
In order to prevent global warming, many countries have pledged to reduce emissions to zero by the middle of this century. But to achieve this goal, countries need to build low-carbon power sources at twice the current rate between now and 2035.
All of these pressures have made nuclear energy regain its favor.
From the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979 to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, nuclear energy had largely fallen out of favor in the 1990s. At the beginning of the 21st century, this trend began to recover, but the accidents that occurred after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant earthquake and tsunami in Japan once again disrupted this momentum. Some countries choose to gradually phase out nuclear power in the coming years, while others refuse to build new nuclear power plants.
And today, this situation seems to be reversing. I do think this is the beginning of a trend, "said Ken Petersen, former president of the American Nuclear Society
White House climate advisor Ali Zaidi stated earlier this month that the Biden administration is developing plans to restart more retired nuclear power plants to help meet the growing demand for clean electricity.