Why the AI boom could reopen the doors for nuclear energy

InvestorDaily

As the AI revolution gathers steam, questions are being increasingly raised about where the electricity required to power data centres will be raised. According to Goldman Sachs, presently, data centres worldwide consume around 2 per cent of power, but this is projected to grow by 160 per cent by 2030. As such, global economies are said to be exploring ways to fit out their electrical grids to meet this rising demand.

In April, Blackstone’s chief executive and co-founder, Stephen Schwarzman, flagged that, in the US, a number of states are “starting to run out of electricity” as they try to keep up with the rising demand. “The growth rate of electricity in the US was about 1 per cent a year. AI is going to add at least 2 per cent more, some people even think 3 per cent,” Schwarzman told the audience at a Melbourne investment conference. He cautioned that if the AI boom continues to increase electricity demand by 2 per cent annually without a corresponding expansion of the electricity grid, there could be a significant shortfall of up to 20 per cent in grid capacity and this is excluding the impact of electric cars.

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