NVIDIA, Google and Emerald AI have launched the AI Energy Management Alliance, a coalition seeking faster power grid connections for AI data centers in exchange for commitments to cut electricity use during peak demand.. The group said it wants to promote flexible AI data centers that place less strain on electricity grids and avoid large taxpayer-funded infrastructure upgrades..
NVIDIA said in a blog post that U.S. power infrastructure was built for “flat, static electricity demand” and not for computing centers that can moderate power use. The coalition wants standards for data centers that can shift computing workloads, discharge storage and respond to system contingencies, making them a “controllable resource rather than an inflexible load.”.
Emerald AI CEO Varun Sivaram wrote in a Fortune article that new U.S. data centers can wait a decade or more for a grid connection because utilities must ensure enough capacity is available during periods of highest demand. He said the grid is only 50% utilized on average and that if AI data centers were flexible during the grid’s worst hours, “America could unlock 100GW on our existing grid for flexible data centers.”.
AEMA said it is proposing principles that include clear rules for facilities to stay connected during brief grid disturbances, reduce power use when needed and respond to emergencies. The group also wants technical requirements, performance metrics and operational data sharing to be standardized..
In return, grid operators would connect data centers more quickly and could share some costs with them. The technologies proposed by the coalition include batteries to carry facilities through peaks, on-site generation to support demand and software that can “slow, pause or shift less urgent computing.”.
Sivaram said AEMA will also push the case with policymakers. “AEMA will press this case in state capitals and in Washington. Our ask of governors, regulators and federal policymakers is simple: offer data centers that commit to flexibility a faster and larger grid connection, and hold them to it,” he wrote..
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