Electricity regulators are concerned that the huge increase in the use of artificial intelligence could lead to power outages in the U.S. and Canada as early as next year. The forecast comes shortly after the public release of iOS 18.2 brought many more Apple Intelligence features to the network.
AI services like ChatGPT and Apple's own Private Cloud Compute servers will double data center power consumption in just four years, and power grids will likely struggle to keep up with the demand…
The concerns have been raised by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a non-profit regulator for the electricity generation sector, the Financial Times reports.
North American power grids are facing “critical reliability issues” as power generation fails to keep up with growing demand from artificial intelligence, the industry watchdog has warned […]
The shortage could lead to power outages during periods of peak demand in both countries as early as next year.
Power demand is growing at an unprecedented rate, NERC's Long-Term Reliability Assessment report says, and the data centers that power AI services are a key reason.
Best comment from The Amazing Iceman
Everyone who has commented on this so far has gotten it right.
If a data center is using more power than it can handle, its circuit breakers will trip. Plus, their power source has to put a cap on their demand if they don't want to be overloaded. If the utilities let that happen, it's their fault. In a worst-case scenario, it’s unlikely the entire country will be without power.
And I’d add that this article reads more like clickbait than reality.
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The report is consistent with the International Energy Agency’s projections that data centers alone will exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2026, double what they were in 2022.
Complicating the problem is that the decline in fossil fuel production has not been matched by a pace of additional renewable energy.
The Midwest will likely be the first to be hit, NERC says, but nearly every region of the U.S. and Canada could see major power outages over the next decade.
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
