AI to help Grid cope with demands of ... AI
National Grid has invested in an AI start-up that can intelligently manage data centres’ electricity usage as it tries to accommodate a wave of projects seeking to connect to its network.
Data centre owners could ultimately be offered the option of connecting to the grid sooner if they agree to dial down power usage during periods of peak demand by using the software of Emerald AI.
Server farms have generally been regarded as inflexible consumers, wishing to maintain full power supplies at all times. Emerald AI’s platform, Emerald Conductor, uses artificial intelligence to assess which workloads at the data centre can be slowed, paused or moved to another data centre temporarily. This is designed to allow data centres to secure grid connections without waiting for new cables in areas where cabling constraints would otherwise risk their usage causing local electricity shortages at peak times. A demonstration of the technology at a UK data centre is planned for later this year.
Ministers are expected to welcome a raft of AI data centre investments by US companies this week during President Trump’s state visit. The government says it wants to be the world leader in AI, which relies on vast amounts of computing power from data centres, using huge amounts of electricity. Data centre developers have been frustrated by difficulties securing grid connections because parts of Britain’s electricity network do not have the cabling capacity to cope with their demand at peak times.
National Grid, which operates the high-voltage electricity cables in England and Wales, has 13.5 gigawatts of data centres seeking to connect to its network, the equivalent of four new nuclear plants.
The FTSE 100 energy group said it had signed a strategic partnership with Emerald AI that would “help position the UK as a global leader in AI and reduce the need for additional infrastructure by giving National Grid more confidence that data centres can lower their energy use when required”.
National Grid has also invested an undisclosed sum in the start-up. It was founded last year by Varun Sivaram, a 36-year-old former Orsted executive, who has already raised $24.5 million from backers including Nvidia’s venture capital arm, as well as Jeff Dean, Google’s chief scientist, and the former US secretary of state John Kerry.
Describing Emerald Conductor as “an AI for AI”, Sivaram said: “When you send a query to ChatGPT, that answer is going to come to you after 1.5 seconds and so if I add 10 milliseconds because I had to move a query from Dallas to Denver, you may not even notice.”
Steve Smith, chief strategy and regulation officer at National Grid, said: “As the UK’s digital economy grows, unlocking new ways to flexibly manage energy use is essential for connecting more data centres to our network efficiently. This groundbreaking trial with Emerald AI demonstrates how innovative technologies can help optimise the grid, enable increased investment in advanced computing, and deliver real benefits to the wider UK economy.”
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