Artificial super computing requires so much energy, that Wikipedia suggests it is a major driver of increasing grid demand. No wonder AI demands mainstream batteries for backup, when ChatGPT searching consumes ten times the energy of Googling.
Larger artificial computing applications are realizing that their livelihood depends on cheaper, increasingly redundant electricity. Wikipedia describes them as ‘being in haste to find alternative power sources from nuclear energy, to geothermal, to fusion.
What AI Means For Batteries and Energy
This demand growth is not good news in the short term for our environment, with utilities cranking up their coal and gas power stations. Although in theory at least, power grids should become more efficient and kinder to the environment in the medium term.
However, this development is good news for energy storage as backup. Here, AI demands mainstream batteries to smooth electricity supply, and stand in for it in the event of grid failure, which does happen.
AI Boom Puts Batteries in Energy Mainstream
AXIOS describes how the artificial intelligence boom is ‘catapulting batteries into mainstream’. Gone are the days when batteries were just accessories in optional portable devices. Storage batteries are now part of the mainstream electricity business.
Energy conference CERA Week is on the go as we write, and focusing on energy, technology, and geopolitics. The bottom line according to AXIOS, is artificial intelligence needs reliable energy fast, to satisfy customers with deep pockets.
The key is providing the additional electricity as the need for it increases, to keep surplus capacity under control. AXIOS reports natural gas is continuing to play a leading role here, but with battery energy storage underpinning this arrangement.
Data centers will also have to expand rapidly to provide more independent information back up. A virtual master plan is still emerging. But one core fact is already evident. AI demands bigger and better mainstream batteries, and these are catapulting energy storage into an exciting new role.
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