With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, its enormous power consumption has attracted widespread attention.
Last week, Microsoft announced an agreement with Constellation Energy to purchase electricity from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant for the next 20 years.
Driven by factors such as the green economy and climate issues that promote strong demand for clean energy, the world is pushing for a large number of new nuclear power projects to be implemented by the middle of this century, and the participation of technology giants is expected to provide more momentum for the development of nuclear energy.
Constellation Energy, actively seeking electricity, said last week that the company has signed a long-term agreement with Microsoft to power the company's data centers.
As part of the agreement, Constellation plans to restart a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, adjacent to the reactor that was shut down due to an accident in 1979.
The restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant still requires federal, state, and local approval.
In 1979, an independent unit at Three Mile Island partially melted down in the largest industrial accident in the country's history.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said, "Constellation has the responsibility to articulate the reasons for the restart, so we are prepared to engage with the company on next steps."
It is worth noting that artificial intelligence may be hindering technology giants in achieving climate goals.
Microsoft previously pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero (or even lower) by 2030.
However, the company's recent sustainability report shows that emissions are still rising, and some executives have said that artificial intelligence is one of the reasons.
Bobby Hollis, Microsoft's Vice President of Energy, said in an announcement, "This agreement is an important milestone for Microsoft to help decarbonize the grid to support our carbon emission commitments.
Microsoft continues to work with energy suppliers to develop carbon-free energy to help meet the grid's capacity and reliability needs."
In May last year, Microsoft signed a power purchase agreement with Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion technology company, which plans to have its first nuclear power plant operational by 2028, with a target output of 50 megawatts.
It is expected that Helion Energy's seventh-generation machine "Polaris" could come online this year to generate electricity, using high-power electromagnetic pulses and helium-3 fuel to achieve fusion.
Like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and others involved in the competition for artificial intelligence and computing power have also turned their attention to nuclear power.
Microsoft founder Gates revealed in June this year that he will continue to invest billions of dollars in the "next-generation" nuclear power plant in Wyoming, USA.
The reason behind this decision is largely due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which is quietly triggering an unprecedented "power storm."
The demand for nuclear power is expected to be further released.
With the convening of the Paris Climate Change Conference and the final signing of the Paris Agreement, investment in nuclear energy driven by green energy has once again come into the public eye.
Although renewable energies such as solar and wind power are expanding at a record pace, they also face their own challenges, such as weather factors that easily affect power generation efficiency, equipment costs and site issues, and storage solutions that still need to be improved.
In the face of strong energy demand trends, Western countries have begun to increase their investment in nuclear power plants.
EDF announced plans to delay the closure of four reactors, and the Swedish government plans to build ten large nuclear power units by 2045.
At the same time, developing countries such as India, Turkey, and Brazil are actively building new nuclear power plants.
At the end of last year, 24 countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France, promised at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Dubai to increase nuclear power generation threefold by 2050.
Now, the development of artificial intelligence may further stimulate demand.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the electricity consumption of data centers, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrencies accounts for about 2% of global electricity demand in 2022.
By 2026, the energy demand for these technologies may reach 4%, which is twice that of 2022.
A report from Mizuho Securities in August showed that by 2030, computer warehouses powering the internet and an increasing number of artificial intelligence devices may require up to 400 terawatt-hours of electricity, which exceeds the total electricity generation of the UK in 2022.
As electricity companies are phasing out coal-fired power plants as part of the transition from fossil fuels, grid stability may face potential shocks on the demand side.
PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the United States, warned in July that the reliability of the system is increasingly a concern as the pace of coal-fired power plant closures outstrips the construction of new power plants.
As one of the largest electricity companies in the United States, American Electric Power's interim CEO Benjamin Fowke told investors during the company's second-quarter earnings call that the company expects the demand for data centers to exceed 15,000 megawatts by the end of the century, and the cost of building new infrastructure to meet demand is expected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars.
In the past, a large manufacturing plant might have required 100 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to about 100,000 households.
The CEO said that it is now increasingly common for a single data center to require three to fifteen times that much power.
