Trump promised to make Pennsylvania an AI hub, but how will it be powered?
Some of the investments promised during the AI and energy summit on Tuesday at Carnegie Mellon University included AI data centers, which can require massive amounts of energy to run.
According to experts, it all comes down to what type of data centers are being built: bigger ones that require more power or smaller ones that don't put as much strain on the grid.
While the promise of billions of dollars in investments is welcomed by many business and elected leaders, all the projects will need to be powered. Some of the data centers needed for AI can be loads up to 1,000 megawatts. Many data centers for other needs are only 20-100 megawatts.
"When you're talking about putting a 1,000-megawatt or 2,000-megawatt load onto the grid, that is a massive load for a single geographic location. That is going to pose a risk to the electrical grid," University of Pennsylvania professor of electrical and systems engineering Dr. Benjamin Lee said.
He said AI data centers need all that power because of graphic processing units, which draw more power. Depending on what AI facilities would be built, there is the chance that smaller data centers may be needed that could put less strain on the grid and be built in cities. Bigger ones will probably be in more remote areas.
"That's going to require lots of land, maybe a generation plant to produce all of the electricity," Lee said.
As for powering, there have already been talks of building natural gas plants and nuclear plants to meet the need. Lee said the fact that Pennsylvania has some of the most natural gas in the country makes the area prime for this investment.
"I think natural gas is a big part of generating electricity for the future," Lee said over Zoom.
There is the question of who pays for new energy infrastructure needed to power everything. Lee said power needs have stayed flat for about a decade but with these centers and pushes for electric devices, there is more need for the energy.
"There is a question about what is the fair and equitable distribution of these costs," Lee said.
According to the Penn professor, a challenge the energy industry faces is keeping up with technology and building power generators as fast as tech can be built.
Chris is an award-winning reporter who started with KDKA in May 2019. He is thrilled to tell your stories in his hometown!
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