January 28, 20251 yr Ah here: https://apnews.com/article/power-electricity-amazon-microsoft-power-plants-data-centers-grid-f4763f73bc112425e18f30618dff0039 Interesting, so 2 markets for power: us (everyone else) and the direct attach datacentres who (a) will want a great deal for steady power use and (b) won't want to pay for the network. Yeah, Amazon again... Edited January 28, 20251 yr by Alan Ambrose
January 28, 20251 yr A few thoughts arising from this... That's US news, there's a million billion things they do there that our utilities would not consider fair, and vice versa. So "us" == US citizens in this instance; UK citizens access to power will be dictated by UK regulators However it's really not surprising in when most generation is privately owned. It's all just market economics at the end of the day There's nothing new under the sun. Google has been doing it for at least 2 decades: their very first privately owned data centre opened in Dalles, Oregon in 2006 was on the site of an old aluminum smelting plant, chosen for it's direct connection to a private power plant and fresh water supply. Edited January 28, 20251 yr by joth
January 28, 20251 yr Don't worry the Chinese have done AI with a fraction, allegedly, of the energy needed by the US systems so we can look forward to fewer emissions coming our way from China perhaps.
January 28, 20251 yr What is the problem with long term energy contracts? We winge like hell about volatile prices, but are unwilling to enter into a long term deal, just incase prices come down. Interesting that the news is from Harrisburg, PA, the home of Three Mile Island. I used to live near it, no one mentioned it at all.
January 28, 20251 yr Author >>> That's US news Yeah, appreciate that, but what happens in California or Germany energy markets may eventually happen here. I appreciate there are some local differences, but the trends e.g. increasing solar and wind / general shift from fossil to renewables / greater electricity consumption / increasing number of big energy-sucking datacentres etc etc etc are similar.
January 28, 20251 yr I’m not complaining, between this and carbon capture I think it’ll keep me in work for years to come
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