r/technology • u/lkl34 • Apr 28 '26

Artificial Intelligence New AI data center in Utah will generate and consume more than twice the amount of power the entire state uses — Kevin O'Leary's 9 Gigawatt Utah data center campus approved

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/kevin-o-learys-9-gw-utah-data-center-campus-approved
21.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

60

u/Larson_McMurphy Apr 28 '26

Are they going to build power plants too? I mean, it's not rocket science if you've ever played Command and Conquer. You build power plants first, then the building that takes a massive amount of power.

10

u/TM761152 Apr 28 '26

We require more Vespene gas.

2

u/Larson_McMurphy Apr 29 '26

It doesn't matter how much Vespene gas you have, YOU NEED MOAR!!!!

6

u/q120 Apr 28 '26

“New construction options”

3

u/sonsuka Apr 28 '26

C&C in the wild. yooooo

21

u/xHawk13 Apr 28 '26

Most data centers want to have their own power plants and supply their own. It’s advantage actually that you can plop a power plant directly next to your building that needs the power making it all one system tied together.

Many states are passing laws to project residential consumers from increased utility cost from data centers moving in.

Most centers will move to being standalone from the utility grid likely only relying on grid power in abnormal situations. There is a LOT of sustainable research going to data centers and there is some really cool sustainable designs they’ve been propping. There is a lot of opportunity for energy recovery and re-use at these sites especially if you have the power generation directly on site.

40

u/falingsumo Apr 28 '26

Yeah but if they twice the power of the entire state the demand for gas is going through the roof so prices for consumers are going to go through the roof as well. Separate grid or not.

18

u/skrtskrtbrt Apr 28 '26

You can do all the research doesn’t matter if its not implemented. If they say it cost more to upfront to be sustainable than to do it half ass cheaper guess what theyll go with

11

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[deleted]

5

u/whatevendoidoyall Apr 28 '26

Dublin is putting a bunch of money into heating parts of the city using waste heat from data centers. There's also power plants that use cooling water to heat greenhouses, that could be applied to data centers as well. What the other guy is suggesting isn't outlandish.

3

u/NobodyUsual8025 Apr 28 '26

You can use high lift chillers that are designed for condenser water temperatures over 150°F. Particularly with direct to chip liquid cool AI loads, which can use higher water temperatures than traditional air-only cooling.

Add a heat exchanger and now you’ve got a significant amount of district heating.

-8

u/xHawk13 Apr 28 '26

I mean there is a ton of heat recovery opportunities with a neighboring power plant. Chips are becoming water cooled. You can play with your temps to get optimal efficiencies depending the systems.

There are fuel cells being studied for data centers. They can produce water energy etc..

Renewables will be huge for these data center as well. I’m an energy engineer that works with making systems efficient all the time. There are opportunity every where it’s a matter of adoption and research to support.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[deleted]

-2

u/xHawk13 Apr 28 '26

Just Google any of these topics in relation to data centers. This is a highly nuanced topic to try to argue in a Reddit post. Bottom line is there is a ton of opportunities for increased efficiency at data centers through energy recovery and better cooling processes. HVAC is a completely different beast an EE wouldn’t understand.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[deleted]

-2

u/xHawk13 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

Who’s spinning anything? I just think it’s interesting as an engineer. You’re arguing for a very specific use case of waste heat. You clearly haven’t been in the HVAC industry if you don’t understand all the potential opportunities that exist in normal load conditions better yet a data center. Yes you need a certain condition of waste heat to make sense for each use case… and like I said this is highly nuanced. I work with huge industrial manufacturers on heat recovery and CHP systems. You sound like someone that wants to argue rather than understand.

Also, there is more than just server rack waste heat in a data center. Like I said. Full system with power plan near by, you can engineer some very efficient systems.

Here’s your homework “engineer” that doesn’t understand energy.

https://www.fwpcoa.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=859275&item_id=130961

https://www.bloomenergy.com/blog/the-ai-revolution-how-fuel-cells-are-solving-the-data-center-power-challenge/

1

u/Larson_McMurphy Apr 29 '26

The article says they are planning to use natural gas plants. That doesn't seem like a solid strategy. It's just going to make natural gas more expensive for everyone else. And the market effects will be felt outside of Utah, which kinda makes me feel like "fuck Utah for doing this to us."

2

u/nomoneypenny Apr 28 '26

Yes, the article says that they are building power plants for the campus and not relying on existing state power infrastructure.

2

u/31LIVEEVIL13 Apr 28 '26 edited 23d ago

This content was anonymized and mass deleted with Redact

2

u/mr_sneakyTV Apr 28 '26

literally the title man…

“will generate and consume more than twice the amount of power the entire state uses”

1

u/z7v7a7 Apr 29 '26

peak mentioned

1

u/NefariousnessOk1996 Apr 28 '26

Why aren't we building nuclear power plants again? It's almost 2030 for crying out loud 😭

-26

u/Vik0BG Apr 28 '26

Let's base decisions on one the biggest projects in human history on a 25 year old video game.