How AI Is Increasing Energy Demands in State and Local Government
AI is changing the game in power demands, with high-intensity data processes and additional cooling needs putting pressure on hard-working state and local data center compute clusters.
“AI in general is energy intensive, for training and inferencing and all of that,” says Kumaraguru Prabakar, principal engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “And there is demand on the education side — there are a lot of tools that help professors help students. There is more need for AI in the education side, and these are energy-intensive operations.”
Microgrids offer a potential way forward.
What Are Microgrids, and How Do They Work for Government?
A microgrid is a small, self-sustaining electrical system that can operate independent of the main electric grid.
“Its main feature is that it can operate in parallel with the grid. When the grid is out, whether it’s an emergency or a planned outage, the microgrid can keeps the light on locally, and when the grid comes back it re-engages with the grid in a seamless fashion,” says Mahmoud Kabalan, associate professor and director of the Center for Microgrid Research at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.
Microgrids also support energy generation. For state and local governments, “if they have their own solar, if they have their own wind, they’re making energy,” says Steve Gillum, solutions manager for power and cooling at CDW. In this way, “the microgrid really is going to allow campuses to be a little bit independent of the utilities, and to support sustainability as well.”
Many public institutions are already rowing in this direction.
“Many governments have buildings with intense cooling and heating requirements, and they have backup generation, typically for emergency operations,” Prabakar says. “Some have small microgrids, for medical facilities or supercomputers. They may not call it a microgrid; it’s just a backup source.”
READ MORE: Delaware embraces Data Center as a Service.
Reducing Costs and Boosting Sustainability With Microgrids
In looking to meet rising energy demand, microgrids offer a budget-friendly option, especially compared with the alternative, which can involve expanding and upgrading existing power lines.
“When you look at the cost of upgrading lines, the cost of adding additional line capacity, that can be really high. In those cases, having a microgrid can be very cost effective,” Prabakar says.
For state and local governments generating power or wind to support the microgrid, there are additional financial benefits, especially when they partner with enabling organizations. “Imagine having a company that could provide you with reporting around your sustainability efforts, and then being able to purchase carbon credits to balance out the whole usage,” Gillum says.
And if you’re producing energy for the microgrid, that can even be a revenue source. “You can optimize the power generation locally, do some peak load shifting and shaving, and maybe to sell some back to the grid,” Kabalan says.
Microgrids can also support governments’ sustainability objectives. “With a microgrid, you can move around those AI loads to match the efficiencies of the grid. Maybe I move my IT loads based on time and demand, coordinating the IT loads to capture higher efficiencies. That can translate into optimal fuel usage,” Prabakar says.
DIG DEEPER: State and local governments can harden data centers against climate risks.
Powering the Future: Data Centers, AI and Government Energy Innovation
Experts see a growing role for microgrids across the public sector.
“We’re just getting started with AI,” Gillum says. “Institutions aren’t going to stand up just one AI solution: It may be 10 or more across the enterprise. How do you get the power there? The microgrid is the only thing that’s going to be able to support that.”
Beyond powering AI and supporting energy innovation, a microgrid on campus offers a learning opportunity. “As the grid becomes more distributed, we need the engineers and the highly skilled labor to run and maintain it. That education piece is pretty important,” Kabalan says.
At the Center for Microgrid Research, for example, “we are educating the engineers that we need to run the grid of the 21st century,” he says. “We’re going to cover that in the textbook, and guess what? We’re going to go down to the basement and check out how this equipment actually works in real life. It provides a very unique, hands-on, real-world experience for our students.”
