40% of data centres forecasted to have power problems
AI and generative AI consume more and more electricity and by 2027, 40% of existing AI data centres will be operationally constrained by lack of power. Data centres electricity consumption will increase 160% over the next two years, a forecast from market research firm Gartner claims.
Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon have recently announced that they are investing in nuclear power to get access to carbon-free electricity to meet the surging demand of electricity for data centres.
“The explosive growth of new hyperscale data centres to implement GenAI is creating an insatiable demand for power that will exceed the ability of utility providers to expand their capacity fast enough,” says Bob Johnson, VP at Gartner.
“In turn, this threatens to disrupt energy availability and lead to shortages, which will limit the growth of new data centres for GenAI and other uses from 2026.”
Gartner estimates the power required for data centres to run incremental AI-optimised servers will reach 500 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year in 2027, which is 2.6 times the level in 2023.
“New larger data centres are being planned to handle the huge amounts of data needed to train and implement the rapidly expanding large language models (LLMs) that underpin GenAI applications. However, short-term power shortages are likely to continue for years as new power transmission, distribution and generation capacity could take years to come online and won’t alleviate current problems.”
The forecast says that the inevitable result of impending power shortages is an increase in the price of power, which will also increase the costs of operating LLMs.
”Zero-carbon sustainability goals will also be negatively affected by short-term solutions to provide more power, as surging demand is forcing suppliers to increase production by any means possible. In some cases, this means keeping fossil fuel plants that had been scheduled for retirement in operation beyond their scheduled shutdown.”
Data centres require 24/7 power availability, which renewable power such as wind or solar cannot provide without some form of alternative supply during periods when not generating power, according to Gartner.
“Reliable 24/7 power can only be generated by either hydroelectric, fossil fuel or nuclear power plants. In the long-term, new technologies for improved battery storage (e.g sodium ion batteries) or clean power (e.g small nuclear reactors) will become available and help achieve sustainability goals.”
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