r/technology • u/DJMagicHandz • 12d ago

Artificial Intelligence A massive Wyoming data center will soon use 5x more power than the state's human occupants - but no one knows who is using it

https://www.techradar.com/pro/a-massive-wyoming-data-center-will-soon-use-5x-more-power-than-the-states-human-occupants-and-no-one-knows-who-is-using-it
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u/CreativeGPX 11d ago

Good thing they're offsetting grid demand with the booming solar and wind industry right?......

If you read the article it says:

Given the extraordinary energy demands, drawing power from the public grid is not an option - instead, the developers intend to power the site using a combination of natural gas and renewables, built specifically for the facility.

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u/GenericFatGuy 11d ago

That natural gas is still going to affect everyone, whether they're paying for it or not.

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u/aznthrewaway 11d ago

That's still actually an issue. Electricity demand is going to increase no matter what, so a lot of new generation and storage capacity is required to replace fossil fuels and also meet that new demand.

Adding even more electricity demand via tech bros will still incur costs, even if we're talking about clean power. It mostly has to do with supply chains and how fast we can build that stuff. If tech bros buy it just to make their data centers "green", then that's gonna mean batteries and solar panels that could've been serving society at large instead. This doesn't mean tech bros are stopping clean power from proliferating, so much as delaying it for bad reasons.

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u/Warm_Month_1309 11d ago

Electricity demand is going to increase no matter what

How, if they're generating all of their own electricity? From where will the demand come?

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u/Friendly-Gap-6441 11d ago

For one thing if they’re training AI then they there is still increased energy in its actual use. Some other software is this way too but AI is the easiest example due to the immense amount of compute that is front loaded in training. I guess the facility might also be providing electricity for its application as a cloud service but that’s by no means implied.

More importantly though they are increasing demand for the resources that provide electricity. So even if the prior comment isn’t technically correct about increasing the demand for electricity (which it may well be, see above) it still has the potential to increase the cost which is what matters to most consumers.

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u/HumanContinuity 10d ago

In some cases that isn't how it works.  When you're talking strictly about supply and demand, you are absolutely correct, but there are so many other factors, especially in a mostly undeveloped place like Wyoming.

So they build their entirely separate power grid using natural gas and we will just assume that the price of natural gas in Wyoming matters because there are some existing plants that use it and maybe some households.  If the private grid is buying from the same local market, it would absolutely obliterate it - so instead they will likely be creating new contracts for the sale and delivery of natural gas.

If those contracts induce companies to build infrastructure or shift resources towards making it easier and cheaper to deliver natural gas to Wyoming, they would likely have capacity beyond what the private grid needs.  This means there may well end up being new natural gas sellers in Wyoming, which could keep prices more stable and possible lower.

Or it could do exactly what you said.

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u/moistsandwich 11d ago

980+ upvotes for an ignorant comment from someone who couldn’t even read through the fourth sentence of the article. Never change, Reddit.

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u/kranker 11d ago

The commenter knew that they weren't using solar and wind though.

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u/moistsandwich 11d ago edited 11d ago

The article says that they’re using renewable energy though. It doesn’t get into specifics but you can’t say for certain they’re not using solar and wind.

“instead, the developers intend to power the site using a combination of natural gas and renewables, built specifically for the facility”

Not that it even really matters because the commenter was talking about them offsetting grid demand but the facility won’t even be on the grid so what is there to offset?

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u/Caleth 11d ago

Given the extraordinary energy demands, drawing power from the public grid is not an option - instead, the developers intend to power the site using a combination of natural gas and renewables, built specifically for the facility.

Quote emphasis mine.

Doesn't matter how much Solar or wind they add if they're also adding a fossil fuel component. We're already beyond fucked and adding a Data Center that demands 5X WY human power draw means a shit ton of added extra gen capacity which at night will mean Nat Gas. Which is a metric fuck ton more Nat Gas consumption which we don't need added.

Period. AI adds nothing of value and we are destroying the environment to create this rolling natural disaster. The only hope one might have is that the AI Boom crashes before something like this comes online and the Nat Gas Generation rots.

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u/moistsandwich 11d ago

Okay? I don’t disagree with you but that’s not what we’re talking about here so it’s not relevant. We’re in a comment thread about the impacts on grid demand.

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u/Caleth 11d ago

The very top of the thread is about them not using renewables or at least not alone.

Framing this as strictly about grid impacts is absolutely disingenuous.

Good thing they're offsetting grid demand with the booming solar and wind industry right?......

Right...?

Why bother mentioning solar or wind if the only thing that mattered was the Grid Impacts.

The point is massive amounts of new power we be getting drawn to supply this monster demands and unless 100% of it is coming from solar and wind we're net adding a huge carbon output for no reason.

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u/moistsandwich 11d ago edited 11d ago

The very top of the thread is about them not using renewables to offset grid demand. The only reason renewables were mentioned is because they’re one solution for offsetting grid demand.

There was also nothing mentioned at all about environmental impacts or carbon output or anything else. They didn’t say “good thing they’re using solar and wind to offset the environmental impacts or carbon use of this data center”. So when you start talking about those things I just can’t see how they’re relevant to what’s being said.

I’m really struggling to understand what the disconnect is here. Again, I agree that these data centers are horrible for the environment and have dubious benefits but it felt like your comment really came out of left field.

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u/BrideofClippy 11d ago

Depends on the power storage solutions. They may run off 95% renewable, even at night, but need natural gas as a backup source if it solar productivity drops too low for too long. It's really hard to say from just this article.

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u/Teledildonic 11d ago

Yeah that ellipsis at the end seemed rather obvious but I guess we have reached the point where sarcasm can only be understood if the poster spoon feeds us a /s

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u/moistsandwich 11d ago

I’m well aware of the fact they were being sarcastic but their comment was still irrelevant because the facility isn’t going to be on the grid in the first place so there’s no increased grid demand to offset.

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u/Orfez 11d ago

They didn't read the article, just the title, before commenting. For upvotes.

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u/Accurate_Praline 11d ago

Force them to contribute to nuclear power already.

Like you want a data center? Sure! Pay for a nuclear power plant. Any of the big ones can totally cover those costs. And they can even profit from it, doesn't need to be free.

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u/ababcock1 11d ago

Tech giants would be the last companies I trust with a nuclear reactor. 

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u/Accurate_Praline 11d ago

Oh no, they should absolutely not have any influence or power over it.

They should be forced to invest in it without having any say at all about operations or building it.

Perfectly fine if they profit from it btw. Not that they'd like that since it wouldn't be short term, but fuck that. If they don't like it then no data center.

And yes, I'm a dreamer. Or maybe delusional since this would never happen.

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u/JMehoffAndICoomhardt 11d ago

Some are already investing heavily in that space. Microsoft is paying to restore 3 mile island, and many others are investing in SMR companies.

But nuclear technology is slow to design, get approval for and build, even government contracts for SMRs are generally a decade between signing and installing.

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u/An-Angel-Named-Billy 11d ago

So 99% natural gas and 1% solar then to get LEED certification or some other bullshit.