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An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute found that by 2030, data centers will consume 4.6% to 9.1% of U.S. electricity.

美国电力研究所的分析发现，到2030年，数据中心将消耗美国4.6%到9.1%的电力。

Last week, Bill Gates broke ground on a nuclear power plant in Wyoming, the U.S., with a $1 billion investment. On the 16th local time, he said he would make additional investments: "I have invested more than a billion, and I will invest billions more."

上周，比尔·盖茨投资10亿美元兴建的核电站在美国怀俄明州破土动工。当地时间16日，他称自己还会追加投资：“我投资了十多亿，我还会再投资数十亿。”

The reason why Bill Gates continues to invest in this nuclear power plant is largely because the development of artificial intelligence (AI) will bring huge pressure on electricity consumption. "The data centers we are going to build will increase the electricity load by up to 10%." He said that the rise of various household heating devices such as electric vehicles and electric heat pumps has pushed up the demand for electricity in the United States, and "the emergence of data centers is even worse. Therefore, large technology companies are studying how to provide more electricity so that these data centers can meet the explosive growth of AI needs."

而比尔·盖茨之所以要持续投资这座核电站，很大程度上是因为人工智能（AI）的发展将带来巨大的用电压力。“我们将要增建的数据中心将会增加多达10%的用电负荷。”他表示，电动汽车和电热泵等各种家用取暖设备的兴起推高了美国的用电需求，“数据中心的出现更是‘雪上加霜’。因此，大型科技公司都在研究如何为提供更多的电力添砖加瓦，使这些数据中心能够满足爆炸式增长的AI需求。”

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a query using OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT consumes 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, while a Google search only requires 0.3 watt-hours, which is only about 1/10 of the former. By 2026, electricity consumption related to data centers, cryptocurrencies, and AI may increase to 620 to 1,050 terawatt-hours. In 2023, Germany's total electricity consumption will be 465 terawatt-hours, and Japan's total electricity demand will be 870 terawatt-hours.

根据国际能源署（IEA）的数据，使用OpenAI旗下的聊天机器人ChatGPT进行一次查询，耗费的电量为2.9瓦时，而谷歌搜索只需0.3瓦时，只有前者的约1/10。到2026年，与数据中心、加密货币和AI相关的电力消耗可能会增加至620到1050太瓦时。而2023年，德国的用电总量为465太瓦时，日本的总电力需求为870太瓦时。

In an interview with the Financial reporter, Mr xiao, partner of EY's strategy and transaction advisory services, said that the large amount of electricity required for the expansion of AI computing power has become a major problem that cannot be avoided at present, but it is not unsolvable. In the future, we can start from technological breakthroughs, resource sharing and the use of new energy.

安永战略与交易咨询服务合伙人萧先生接受金融记者采访时表示，AI算力扩容所需的大量电力已是当前不可规避的一个主要问题，但并非无法解决，未来可以从技术突破、资源共享和新能源利用等方面入手。

European and American governments feel the pressure of AI power demand

欧美政府感受到AI电力需求压力

As AI infrastructure such as data centers proliferate, AI-related electricity demand will grow rapidly. According to research by investment bank Goldman Sachs, currently, global data centers account for 1% to 2% of total electricity consumption, but by 2030, this proportion may rise to 3% to 4%, which is doubled.

而随着数据中心等AI基础设施的遍地开花，AI相关的电力需求将迅速增长。根据投资银行高盛的研究，目前，全球数据中心的耗电量占总耗电量的1%~2%，但到2030年前，这一比例可能会上升到3%~4%，也就是翻了一番。

In Europe, the Goldman Sachs report said that by 2030, the region's data center electricity demand will be equal to the current consumption of Portugal, Greece and the Netherlands combined. An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) found that by 2030, data centers will consume between 4.6% and 9.1% of the United States' electricity.

高盛的报告称，在欧洲，到2030年，该地区数据中心的电力需求将相当于目前葡萄牙、希腊和荷兰的总消耗量。美国电力研究所（EPRI）的分析发现，到2030年，数据中心将消耗美国4.6%到9.1%的电力。

Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security held a hearing on the theme of "Powering AI." The minutes of the meeting show that the committee believes that it is necessary to treat related issues as national security issues. The current U.S. power grid faces huge challenges in meeting growing demand, and its reliability and stability are worrying. The United States urgently needs strategic energy planning. Intermittent renewable energy alone is not enough to meet the high reliability requirements of data centers and AI technology, so it is necessary to focus on a diversified power generation portfolio including energy storage and stable dispatchable power generation resources. In addition, the United States needs to invest heavily in the construction and upgrading of energy infrastructure to support the growing demand for AI and data centers.

本月初，美国众议院能源和商业小组委员会能源、气候和电网安全小组委员会举行了一场主题为“为AI提供动力”的听证会。会议纪要显示，该委员会认为，有必要将相关问题作为国家安全问题来对待。当前美国电网在满足日益增长的需求方面面临巨大挑战，其可靠性和稳定性令人担忧，美国亟需进行战略性能源规划。仅靠间歇性可再生能源不足以满足数据中心和AI技术对可靠性的高要求，因此有必要关注包括储能和稳定可调度发电资源在内的多样化发电组合。此外，美国需要对能源基础设施的建设和升级进行大量投资，对于支持AI和数据中心不断增长的需求。

In Europe, some countries have begun to impose more requirements on the construction of local data centers due to concerns that the huge energy usage of data centers will put too much pressure on national climate goals and power grids.

在欧洲，由于担心数据中心巨大的能源使用量会对国家气候目标和电网造成过大压力，一些国家开始对本地数据中心的建设提出更多要求。

Germany passed a new Energy Efficiency Act in October last year, which specifically stipulates the efficiency of power use, renewable energy supply, and waste heat use in data centers. For example, from 2024, 50% of electricity consumption must be supplied by renewable energy, and from 2027, this proportion will be increased to 100%.

其中，德国于去年10月通过了新的《能源效率法》，专门针对数据中心在电力使用效率、可再生能源供电以及使用废热等方面作出规定。例如，从2024年起，50%的用电量必须由可再生能源供应，从2027年起，这一比例提高至100%。

Last year, Equinix, one of the world's largest digital infrastructure companies, Vantage Data Centers, and EdgeConneX, a data center operator, were rejected by Ireland for planning permission to build new data centers in Dublin. In fact, since 2022, the Irish Electricity Supply Commission (EirGrid) has stated that due to the sharp increase in electricity demand, they will restrict the construction of new data centers, implement stricter approval procedures for new projects, and give priority to projects with less impact on the power grid.

去年，全球最大的数字基础设施公司之一易昆尼克斯（Equinix）、数据中心运营公司万特奇数据中心（Vantage Data Centers）和“边缘连接”（EdgeConneX）申请在都柏林新建数据中心的规划许可均被爱尔兰拒绝。事实上，自2022年起，爱尔兰电力供应委员会（EirGrid）就表示，由于电力需求的急剧增加，他们将限制新的数据中心建设，对新项目实施更严格的审批程序，并优先考虑对电网影响较小的项目。

Local governments in and around the Dutch capital Amsterdam have also suspended the issuance of construction permits for new data centers to ease grid load and manage energy demand.

荷兰首都阿姆斯特丹及其周边地区的地方政府也已暂停发放新数据中心的建设许可，以缓解电网负荷和管理能源需求。

Technology giants: do it yourself and live a comfortable life

科技巨头：自己动手、丰衣足食

Technology giants such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon are at the forefront of AI development, and their cloud computing business units are supported by clusters of data centers around the world, which also means a lot of energy consumption.

微软、谷歌和亚马逊等科技巨头是发展AI的排头兵，而它们旗下的云计算业务部门由遍布全球的数据中心群支撑，这同时也意味着大量的能源消耗。

Recently, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm revealed that the Biden administration is in talks with major technology companies, asking them to invest in climate-friendly electricity production to meet their own growing needs.

近日，美国能源部长格兰霍姆（Jennifer Granholm）透露，拜登政府正在与主要科技公司洽谈，要求后者投资于气候友好型电力生产，以满足自身不断增长的需求。

"If tech companies want clean electricity from the grid, they should generate their own electricity," Granholm told the media. "We have been discussing this with data companies. Large data companies have committed to achieving net zero emissions and want a stable supply of electricity generated by clean energy."

“如果科技公司要从电网中获取清洁电力，他们应该自己生产电力。”格兰霍姆对媒体表示，“我们一直在与数据公司讨论。大型数据公司已承诺实现净零排放，并希望获得由清洁能源产生的稳定电力供应。”

xiao said that in order to meet the electricity demand and energy-saving pressure brought by AI, in terms of the use of new energy, clean energy such as solar energy and wind energy can be used to power data centers, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and reduce carbon emissions.

萧称，为满足AI带来的电力需求与节能压力，在新能源利用方面，可以采用太阳能、风能等清洁能源为数据中心供电，减少对化石燃料的依赖，降低碳排放。

Tech giants have also already begun to lay out their plans. According to Amazon's official website, the company has more than 500 solar and wind projects around the world, and invested in more than 100 last year alone, becoming the world's largest corporate buyer of renewable energy for the fourth consecutive year. Its investment portfolio is now enough to power 7.2 million American households each year. The company said that by 2025, all of its global electricity will be powered by renewable energy, including Amazon Web Services' data centers.

科技巨头也早已开始布局。根据亚马逊官网介绍，该公司在全球拥有500多个太阳能和风能项目，仅去年就投资了100多个，连续第四年成为全球最大的可再生能源企业买家，其投资组合现在足以每年为720万户美国家庭供电。该公司称，到2025年，该公司全球用电将全部使用可再生能源，包括亚马逊网络服务公司的数据中心。

Microsoft is betting on nuclear energy. In May last year, the company signed a power purchase agreement with Helion, a private American company specializing in the development of nuclear fusion technology. In January this year, Microsoft also hired a director of nuclear technology to develop atomic reactors to power its data centers. Microsoft's goal is that by 2025, all data centers and facilities will be 100% powered by new renewable energy that matches annual power consumption.

微软则在押注核能。去年5月，该公司与美国专注开发核聚变技术的私营公司Helion签订了购电协议。今年1月，微软还聘请了一位核技术总监，负责开发原子反应堆，为其数据中心供电。微软的目标是，到2025年，所有数据中心和设施都能100%地使用与年耗电量相匹配的新增可再生能源发电。

Google's parent company Alphabet announced its 24/7 Carbon Free Energy (CFE) goal in 2020, which is to use carbon-free energy for all business operations by 2030. Last year, Google opened its first data center in Jinsai City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In May this year, the company announced the signing of two new solar power purchase agreements (PPA) in Japan to support the construction of new solar projects and add 60 megawatts of clean energy capacity to the Japanese power grid.

谷歌母公司Alphabet于2020年宣布了全天候无碳能源（CFE）的目标，即到2030年实现全部业务运营使用无碳能源。去年，谷歌在日本千叶县仁斋市开设首个数据中心，今年5月，该公司宣布在日本签署两份新的太阳能购电协议（PPA），支持建设新的太阳能项目，为日本电网增加60兆瓦的清洁能源容量。

In addition to starting with power generation, xiao Fusheng told the Financial reporter that technology companies can also try to share the resources needed for AI development. For example, through the leasing model, the existing graphics processing unit (GPU) resources can be maximized to alleviate the problem of computing power shortage and reduce the initial investment cost. If feasible, cloud computing platforms can also be used to provide AI computing power, reducing the need for enterprises and research institutions to deploy local infrastructure and achieving resource sharing.

除从发电源头下手外，萧对金融记者表示，科技公司还可以尝试共享AI发展所需的资源。例如，通过租赁模式最大化利用现有图形处理器（GPU）资源，缓解算力短缺问题，同时降低初期投资成本。如可行，也可以利用云计算平台提供AI算力，减少企业和研究机构部署本地基础设施的需求，实现资源共享。

In this regard, AI chip developer Nvidia has stated that the latest Blackwell GPU has four times the training performance of the previous generation product Hopper and 25 times the energy efficiency.

在这方面，AI芯片开发商英伟达已经表示，最新的Blackwell GPU的训练性能是上一代产品Hopper的4倍，能效是25倍。

However, xiao Fusheng said that these solutions are not easy to achieve. "Technological breakthroughs require a lot of human, material and capital support, and the commercialization and continuous performance improvement of new chips need to be solved. Resource sharing requires ensuring the reliability and cost-effectiveness of computing power leasing services, and at the same time, it is necessary to establish an effective resource sharing mechanism. The use of new energy requires overcoming the intermittent and unstable nature of renewable energy, and achieving intelligent and efficient energy management, while also considering compatibility and transition issues with existing energy infrastructure." But he believes that "the development of new technologies always requires a process."

不过，萧表示，这些方案都并不容易实现。“技术的突破需要大量的人力、物力和资本的支持，需要解决新型芯片的商业化落地和持续性能提升问题，资源共享要求确保算力租赁服务的可靠性和成本效益，同时需要建立有效的资源共享机制，而新能源利用则需要克服可再生能源的间歇性和不稳定性，并在能源管理上实现智能化和高效化，同时还需考虑与现有能源基础设施的兼容性和过渡问题。”但他认为，“新技术的发展总是需要一个过程”。