Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Podcast

So, What Does AI Really Mean for Decarbonization?

Jesse hosts a panel discussion at the annual meeting of Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

A data center.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The rise of artificial intelligence and the associated expansion of data centers is driving surging demand for new power supply. Earlier this fall at the annual meeting of Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Jesse sat down with a panel of experts to discuss how society can meet the growing energy demands of AI while staying on track broader decarbonization efforts.

How will we power the growing demand from AI and data centers? What role can nuclear power really play? Will AI lock us into a new generation of gas power plants? Are regulators prepared for what's coming? Jesse dives into all this and more with Allison Clements, former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Matt DeNichilo, partner at energy investment firm ECP, and Lucia Tian, head of clean energy and decarbonization technologies at Google.

Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University. Rob is off this week.

Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also add the show’s RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.

Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

Allison Clements: FERC, the agency, which, I was one of five commissioners, has jurisdiction over what resources sign up for and retire from participating on the grid. And over the last decade, two decades, what has happened is, as this 1.5 terawatts of generation have gotten in line, it’s just overwhelmed the interconnection system. The interconnection processes weren’t designed for anything other than central station, dispatchable, most recently gas plants, combined cycle gas plants, peaking plants, closer to load, you don’t need as much network upgrades.

There’s lots of room on the grid because there was an investment in the grid many decades ago. But now we’ve got this situation where there’s all these resources who want to sign up, and they can’t get on. In fact, this has been going on for a long time. And most of the supply resources waiting to get on today do have site control, do have the financial and commercial readiness. There’s some that we’re still clearing out from the days of the Wild West, where people would just sign up six interconnection applications and see what happened, which would cause a lot of problems for everybody else when they would drop out of those lines.

So, what do we do about it? FERC has passed a couple of different rules to clean up regional transmission planning. A comment about planning during this morning’s session that utilities plan so much — well, if we had been planning for an increasingly electrified economy 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, we would have a lot more transmission, a lot more space on the grid to give access to these resources.

We have taken action as an agency to try and fix that through one rule. We’ve also taken action as an agency to try and fix the interconnection lines themselves through some nuts and bolts requirements to make it harder to get through, so you don’t come until you’re ready to go. But those rules and policy changes that are very positive aren’t going to have impact for, let’s say, five years, seven years. I mean, the reality is we’re not going to be picking new transmission lines from these processes we’ve developed until at least 2029.

2024 — what do we do for the next five years, right? Even these really exciting new deals with SMR, advanced geothermal, we’re looking in the 2030 timeline. Well, the existing grid is really inefficient, and if we can use AI to improve it, that would be really, really important in validating and making this a positive cycle of affirmation.

The last thing I’ll say is, what are those inefficiencies? The lines between regions, the lines between PJM, which is the region we’re sitting in today, a grid operator, and the New York State grid operator, and the New England grid operator at the interties, the transfers, are very inefficient and they’re often counter to good economics. We have no hardware and software solutions, grid-enhancing technologies, advanced transmission technologies that can automatically double existing capacity, or existing room, extra room on the grid. We have surplus interconnection. We have the opportunity to put more resources behind existing points of interconnection and use that system more efficiently. So, the reality is to solve the power for AI, we need the AI to come back and help us do it.

This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …

Watershed’s climate data engine helps companies measure and reduce their emissions, turning the data they already have into an audit-ready carbon footprint backed by the latest climate science. Get the sustainability data you need in weeks, not months. Learn more at watershed.com.

As a global leader in PV and ESS solutions, Sungrow invests heavily in research and development, constantly pushing the boundaries of solar and battery inverter technology. Discover why Sungrow is the essential component of the clean energy transition by visiting sungrowpower.com.

Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Climate

What Started the Fires in Los Angeles?

Plus 3 more outstanding questions about this ongoing emergency.

Los Angeles.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As Los Angeles continued to battle multiple big blazes ripping through some of the most beloved (and expensive) areas of the city on Friday, a question lingered in the background: What caused the fires in the first place?

Though fires are less common in California during this time of the year, they aren’t unheard of. In early December 2017, power lines sparked the Thomas Fire near Ventura, California, which burned through to mid-January. At the time it was the largest fire in the state since at least the 1930s. Now it’s the ninth-largest. Although that fire was in a more rural area, it ignited for some of the same reasons we’re seeing fires this week.

Keep reading...Show less
Green
Politics

AM Briefing: High Stakes Hearings

On tough questioning from the Senate, LA’s fires, and EV leases

Trump’s Cabinet Picks Face Confirmation Hearings This Week

Current conditions: Odd weather has caused broccoli and cauliflower plants to come up far too early in the UK • Another blast of Arctic air is headed for the Midwest • An air quality alert has been issued in Los Angeles due to windblown dust and ash.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Strong winds threaten progress in battle against LA fires

Firefighters in Los Angeles are scrambling to make progress against the ongoing wildfires there before dangerous winds return. The Palisades and Eaton fires have now been burning for almost a week, charring nearly 40,000 acres, damaging more than 12,000 structures, and leaving at least 24 people dead. They are 13% and 27% contained, respectively. Residents who lost their homes are desperately trying to find new properties to rent or buy in a tight market, with reports of intense bidding wars as landlords hike rents. The economic toll of this disaster is estimated to be between $135 billion and $150 billion. Red flag warnings are in effect today, with critical fire conditions and extreme wind gusts forecast through Wednesday.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Climate

What You Need to Know About the Still-Burning L.A. Fires

With the ongoing disaster approaching its second week, here’s where things stand.

Los Angeles fire destruction.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

A week ago, forecasters in Southern California warned residents of Los Angeles that conditions would be dry, windy, and conducive to wildfires. How bad things have gotten, though, has taken everyone by surprise. As of Monday morning, almost 40,000 acres of Los Angeles County have burned in six separate fires, the biggest of which, Palisades and Eaton, have yet to be fully contained. The latest red flag warning, indicating fire weather, won’t expire until Wednesday.

Many have questions about how the second-biggest city in the country is facing such unbelievable devastation (some of these questions, perhaps, being more politically motivated than others). Below, we’ve tried to collect as many answers as possible — including a bit of good news about what lies ahead.

Keep reading...Show less