(Bloomberg) — Information middle builders in Northern Virginia are asking utility Dominion Power for as a lot energy as a number of nuclear reactors can generate, within the newest signal of how synthetic intelligence helps drive up electrical energy demand.
Dominion recurrently fields requests from builders whose deliberate knowledge middle campuses want as a lot as “a number of gigawatts” of electrical energy, Chief Government Officer Bob Blue mentioned Thursday in the course of the firm’s first-quarter earnings name. A gigawatt is roughly the output of a nuclear reactor and might energy 750,000 properties.
Electrical utilities are going through the largest demand bounce in a era. Together with knowledge facilities to run AI computing, America’s grid is being strained by new factories and the electrification of every part from vehicles to dwelling heating. The surge in demand is complicating utility efforts to show off carbon-emitting energy vegetation and meet their local weather objectives.
Over the previous 5 years, Dominion has linked 94 knowledge facilities that, collectively, eat about 4 gigawatts of electrical energy, Blue mentioned. That implies that simply two or three of the info middle campuses now being deliberate may require as a lot electrical energy as all of the facilities Dominion attached since about 2019.
