US Hyperscalers To Consume 22% More Grid Power By End of 2025 (theregister.com)
- Reference: 0179817288
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/10/17/2051238/us-hyperscalers-to-consume-22-more-grid-power-by-end-of-2025
- Source link: https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/us_datacenters_ai_power/
> Hyperscale datacenters stateside will [1]consume 22 percent more grid power by the end of 2025 than a year ago , and are forecast to need nearly three times as much electricity by the end of the decade. Warnings about datacenters' rising energy draw are coming thick and fast of late, and this latest one from [2]451 Research (now a part of S&P Global) comes with figures and cautions about how fast this change may occur and what grid resources will be required to meet it.
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> The bit barn building boom is largely fueled by estimated demand for new machine learning models, which require highly configured servers packed with power-hungry GPUs to develop and train. The power and cooling infrastructure required also mean it is easier to build a new facility rather than attempt to retrofit an existing one. As a consequence, utility power to datacenters in America is estimated to jump 11.3 GW to 61.8 GW by the end of this year. 451 calculates this will rise again to 75.8 GW in 2026, then 108 GW in 2028, before hitting 134.4 GW by 2030. These figures also exclude enterprise-owned facilities, only considering those of the hyperscale tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, alongside leased and crypto-mining sites.
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> The research identifies Virginia and Texas as the two states with by far the highest requirement for bit barn energy supplies in the US this year. 451 forecasts that Virginia's datacenter load, made up of leased and hyperscale facilities, will reach 12.1 GW in 2025, up from 9.3 GW last year. In Texas, demand is driven by cryptomining and leased capacity, and is slated to hit 9.7 GW this year, from less than 8 GW previously. However, the search for an optimum location is seeing datacenter operators explore emerging markets such as Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma and smaller cities in West Texas, looking for "stranded power" and alternative energy generation opportunities, the report says.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/us_datacenters_ai_power/
[2] https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/electric-power/101425-data-center-grid-power-demand-to-rise-22-in-2025-nearly-triple-by-2030
Yeah but it's so worth it (Score:2)
How else will I be able to feel that deep sense of dread when I call any company's customer support and I'm greeted by an overly polite chatbot that's so syrupy it gives me type-2, that doesn't understand my problem and refuses to let me talk to a real person?
Re:Yeah but it's so worth it (Score:4, Funny)
What really is so stupid is "Fake Typing" when you respond to the question. There's no typing going on, you're just red to believe there is because they want you to believe you're talking to someone with a pulse.
These will gravitate to states with cheap power (Score:2)
and cool climates. Expect consumers to pay more for power in those states.
Re: (Score:2)
Why expect consumers to pay more? We are a Democracy and the middle class and poor people have been jacked up enough. If Big Tech wants to build Big Data Centers, they should pay for all of it. This is exactly a tax without representation.
There should be balance. (Score:3)
Let Big Tech build the data centers anywhere, but don't jack up the prices that average people pay for electricity. Put the burden back on them.
Re: (Score:3)
That's not how capitalism works. Any excuse to raise prices will be exploited, electricity is not a free market.
Re: (Score:2)
The result of unfettered capitalism is that one person owns everything, and has all of the money. Now we are at a point where about 2,000 people own most of the money. I think that is contrary to Democracy, and to the Constitution of the United States.
Re: (Score:2)
Turns out that the constitution says nothing about that.
This may be a flaw.
Re: (Score:2)
The Constitution was a compromise from Slavery to Oligarchy. I think that Ben Franklin said it the best after signing: "We have a Republic if we can keep it". I have this nagging belief that we need a new Constitution that values the middle class. Jefferson had a belief that we would have a new Constitution Convention about every 30 years, for an update. But I believe that some people got power and money from the original writings, and manipulated things such that it wouldn't be changed again.
Actually if does (Score:1)
General welfare clause. It's part of the law. It's not in the preamble.
Re: (Score:2)
We are clearly "talking past each other". You lost me at: "the only legal political party". The founding fathers of the USA did not want political parties, and neither do I. I reject a lot of your other assumptions as well.
Re: (Score:2)
That's exactly a free market. Deregulation always tends toward monopolies. The freer it is the easier it is to exploit.
Re: (Score:1)
> Let Big Tech build the data centers anywhere, but don't jack up the prices that average people pay for electricity. Put the burden back on them.
The utilities, grid, free market, and so much else will not see things that way. What is seen is an increased demand in electricity, that drives up prices to both discourage use and encourage new electricity generating capacity. If the electricity use can be driven down because people are drying their clothes on clotheslines than a dryer, cooking on propane grill than an electric stove, then that's mission accomplished for them.
Maybe the data centers *SHOULD* pay the price for the electricity demand they
Re: (Score:2)
Wind and Solar is more affordable than Nuclear power. Until we can agree on facts, I can't discuss this with a person who just makes shit up. Scarcity does change behavior, I would rather Big Tech change their behavior than me having to sleep in the kitchen in order to be warm.
Re: (Score:2)
> Wind and Solar is more affordable than Nuclear power.
Depends on location and application.
With that said, though, nuclear power is currently about the most expensive of power sources (*). The advocates for small reactors make the case that economy of production of many units will make small reactors less expensive, but this is considered dubious by most of the people who understand nuclear technology.
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*(unless you put a negative dollar value on CO2 emissions).
Re: (Score:2)
I am for "all of the above" strategies for energy. Let the best source win without political or tax cuts influence.