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Japan Times
05-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Data centers and small reactors could change Asia's nuclear dynamic
Notice how hot your cellphone gets when it multitasks on a steamy day? It doesn't take much to make me put my keitai down and worry about it overheating. Multiply that heat by, say, infinity, and you've got the biggest problem that data centers face in an increasingly digital world. An estimated 402.74 million terabytes of data are created each day and storing and processing all that information creates virtual volcanoes. The rise of artificial intelligence is compounding the problem. In a much-cited report released earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that electricity demand from data centers worldwide will more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours, an amount that exceeds Japan's current entire electricity consumption. By 2035, global data center electricity consumption will increase again by one-third to around 1,200 TWh. (Goldman Sachs reached roughly similar conclusions in reports issued last year.) Data center electricity consumption has grown 12% a year since 2017 — more than four times the rate of total electricity consumption — and last year accounted for around 1.5% of the world's electricity consumption in 2024, or 415 TWh. The U.S. accounted for 45% of that amount, followed by China (25%) and Europe (15%). It's estimated that a typical AI-focused data center consumes as much electricity as 100,000 homes and the largest ones currently under construction will consume 20 times that amount, or the equivalent of 2 million households. A huge part of that demand comes from the cooling systems critical to their operation. New technology such as graphics processing units, needed for increasingly complex computation, consume more power and generate more heat than the central processing units that are more widely used today. It's estimated that cooling systems can account for as much as 40% of a data center's power consumption. The IEA sources 85% of global data center power consumption — and hence data centers — to the U.S., China and Europe. In Japan, data centers account for less than 20 TWh of electricity consumption (about 2% of the total, roughly equivalent to that of Europe). That will change. The transition to Society 5.0, with its deep integration of digital services into daily life, will accelerate demand for computing power. In addition, the Japanese government has made data centers a core component of efforts to increase foreign direct investment in the country to ¥100 trillion by the end of 2030. Japan is already scheduled to add more than 500MW to power its data centers, bringing total capacity for those facilities to 1.5 GW. Consistent with those plans, the IEA concluded that data centers will be responsible for more than half the growth in electricity demand in Japan. The rest of the world accounts for about 10% of total data center electricity generation, with Southeast Asia and India prominent. In many ways, Southeast Asia may be the most interesting — and concerning — place to watch. A BCG report last year anticipated that data center capacity in Southeast Asia would triple by 2030, reaching between 5.2 GW and 6.5 GW, which would make it the world's third hub for such services, behind the U.S. and China. This will, reports the IEA, double electricity demand in the region. As one example, the agency forecast that data centers would be responsible for as much as 20% of the increase in Malaysia's national power demand by 2030. Ambitious politicians, such as Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's eminence grise, hope to emulate Japan and use that demand to entice foreign investment. 'We want to be competitive in data centers and AI,' Thaksin said earlier this year. Bangkok has already reportedly secured billions of dollars in investment commitments by technology giants like Amazon and Alibaba. The big question is where they will get their juice. Rising demand is pushing tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon to invest in nuclear power. This shift, from governments to big companies, as the primary drivers of nuclear power development, has powerful implications that we have been slow to consider. Big nuclear projects remain problematic, with government policies and regulations inhibiting — if not blocking — the sector's development. There is only one nuclear power plant in Southeast Asia — in the Philippines, built 40 years ago but never commissioned. It has never produced a single watt of energy. Yet, in a report issued late last year, the IEA concluded that nuclear power would become part of the region's energy mix by 2035, with installed nuclear capacity ranging from 6 GW to 13 GW by 2050, depending on the scenario. The development of small modular reactors is the wild card. SMRs have a capacity of under 300 MW (small, most conventional reactors produce about 1,000 MW) and their components can be mass-produced and assembled on site (modular). They are also considerably cheaper than traditional nuclear power plants: They cost about $2 billion while conventional reactors can cost more than $10 billion. Thus far, only Russia and China have commercially operable reactors, although the U.S. and Japan are working on the technology. According to the IEA, there are plans to build as much as 25 GW of SMR capacity to supply data centers worldwide, almost all in the U.S., with the first projects expected to go online after 2030. But does the readiness of tech giants to acquire their own nuclear capability change the regional dynamic? SMRs are intended to sidestep the big issues surrounding nuclear power, namely the huge costs required to build the plant and the accompanying grid as well as looming and rightly concerning safety and security issues. SMRs can be installed into an existing grid or remotely off-grid, reducing or even eliminating the infrastructure concerns. They're also thought to be safer and more secure. While those reactors will still be subject to national regulatory frameworks, it seems obvious to me that moving the locus of decision-making away from governments to companies could accelerate the adoption process. Especially when those companies are pursuing business objectives that align with national economic goals — promoting investment and the development of high-tech industries. Companies can move more quickly than governments. Their readiness to assume regulatory and financial burdens helps shift the decision-making dynamic. I checked in with Carl Baker, my colleague at Pacific Forum who has been running programs that explore regional thinking about nuclear energy for nearly two decades. He agreed that 'the potential availability of SMRs has had an impact on thinking about the viability of nuclear technology, especially in Southeast Asia.' But, he added 'the conversation regarding the introduction of nuclear energy as a source of electrical power is still in its early stages and has not gotten into the specific issues related to governance and other regulatory considerations.' He is less sanguine than I about the impact of the private sector's enthusiasm for SMRs. The idea that tech giants can change the prevailing mindset 'is not really an issue in countries that have not developed the national regulatory framework for use of nuclear power as an energy source.' Moreover, 'conglomerates are not going to be able to avoid the bottlenecks and roadblocks any more than large power companies have been.' Finally, Baker said, 'the impetus for accommodating specialized applications is coming primarily from the U.S at this point' and regulators there have been pretty reluctant to let go of overly stringent safety requirements. He is probably right. But in a recent conversation in Southeast Asia about nuclear power and accompanying concerns, local participants approached the problem from the traditional perspective — big nukes, national infrastructure and government bottlenecks. Those are powerful forces but I can't help but wonder if that paradigm is ready for revision. After all, things are heating up. Brad Glosserman is a senior adviser at Pacific Forum and the author of "Peak Japan." His upcoming book on the geopolitics of high-tech is expected to be released by Hurst Publishers this fall.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon data centres to consume ‘as much electricity to power Burnley'
A complex of huge data centres being built by Amazon in Britain will consume as much electricity needed to power a town the size of Burnley, campaigners have claimed. The proposed data centres, near Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire, are projected to consume around 114.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year. This equivalent to the power consumed by more than 42,500 UK households, according to researchers at Global Action Plan, which is campaigning against the development. It exceeds the number of homes in Burnley, which stood at 41,955 after the most recent Census in 2021. Planning documents show the two data centres in the development will include 42 back-up diesel generators, each around 25 metres tall, that need to be fired up fortnightly to check they are working. It is estimated this will produce the same emissions as 1,079 homes heated by gas. The plans were lodged with Central Bedfordshire Council by Colliers Properties, a known partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the retail giant's cloud computing division. The documents name Amazon Data Services UK as the site's eventual operator. Known as Linmere Island, the project would sit on an empty 22-acre greenfield site. While the plans also include 140 solar panels, it is not clear how much power they will supply to the data centres. It comes amid growing pushback against a slew of 'hyperscale' data centre projects being lined up across Britain – a central part of the Prime Minister's strategy to boost economic growth – with campaigners raising concerns over their environmental impact. One complex near Blyth, Northumberland, is forecast to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than Birmingham Airport, which carries 12m passengers per year. Another in Elsham, Lincolnshire, is predicted to generate five times the carbon dioxide of the same airport. It underscores the challenge faced by Sir Keir Starmer as he battles to restore economic growth while hitting net zero targets. Data centres are vital to artificial intelligence, and were classed as critical national infrastructure last September, with Sir Keir establishing 'AI growth zones' to speed up such building projects. AWS set out plans last September to invest £8bn in the UK to build data centres. At the time, Tanuja Randery of AWS, said its strategy would help meet the 'growing needs' of its customers and 'support the transformation of the UK's digital economy'. The investment was hailed by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, as 'the start of the economic revival', and that it showed 'Britain is a place to do business'. But such developments require vast amounts of energy that puts it at odds with the Government's mission to become net zero by 2050. It has prompted Matt Garman, chief executive of AWS, to urge the UK to increase its supply of nuclear energy for data centres in an interview with the BBC last month. There are also mounting concerns over the amount of water that some data centres require to keep their computer banks cool enough to function properly. Oliver Hayes, head of policy and campaigns at Global Action Plan, said: 'It's astonishing that communities are expected to like it or lump it when it comes to this wave of giant data centres. 'Amazon is opaque about how much of Houghton Regis' water it will suck up in order to cool the IT equipment, but given this one data centre will require as much electricity as a town the size of Burnley, we can assume the pressure on local water supplies will be intense – to say nothing of the noise and air pollution caused by fortnightly testing of its 42 backup diesel generators.' Amazon declined to comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
10-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Data Centers Prompt US to Boost Power-Usage Forecast by 92%
US data centers are rapidly driving up demand for power, with the official forecast for electricity consumption next year almost doubling in the past month. Total power usage in the US is expected to climb 2.15% in 2026, spurred largely by a 5% spike from commercial users because of the expansion of data centers, according to a US Energy Department report released on Tuesday. That's up sharply from a month ago, when the agency expected commercial demand to rise by 2% and total consumption to gain by 1.12%.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Data center demand to push US power use to record highs in 2025, '26, EIA says
June 10 (Reuters) - Power-hungry data centers that provide computing power for artificial intelligence and crypto currency will push U.S. electricity consumption to record highs in 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. The EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,193 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2025 and 4,283 billion kWh in 2026 from a record 4,097 billion kWh in 2024. In addition to data centers, American homes and businesses are expected to use more electricity for heat and transportation. The EIA forecast 2025 power sales will rise to 1,517 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,474 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,055 billion kWh for industrial customers. Those forecasts compare to all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,434 billion kWh in 2024 for commercial customers and 1,064 billion kWh in 2000 for industrial customers. The EIA said natural gas' share of power generation would slide from 42% in 2024 to 40% in 2025 and 2026. Coal's share will hold at 16% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 15% in 2026, as renewable output rises. The percentage of renewable generation will rise from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026, while nuclear power's share will hold at 19% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 18% in 2026, according to the outlook. EIA projected gas sales in 2025 would rise to 13.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) for residential consumers, 9.7 bcfd for commercial customers and 23.5 bcfd for industrial customers, but fall to 35.9 bcfd for power generation. That compares with all-time highs of 14.3 bcfd in 1996 for residential consumers, 9.6 bcfd in 2019 for commercial customers, 23.8 bcfd in 1973 for industrial customers and 36.9 bcfd in 2024 for power generation.
Bloomberg
10-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
India Plans Air-Conditioning Temperature Standards to Save Power
India is working with appliance makers to standardize the cooling range of air conditioners to ensure that the minimum temperature is not set below 20C (68F), in an effort to cut the energy use of these power guzzlers. The plan, although at an initial stage, reflects the government's focus to boost energy efficiency as electricity consumption soars. In recent years, demand has outpaced generation capacity, leaving parts of the country without power during sweltering summer months of April through June. Currently, thermostats on some of these devices can be adjusted to as low as 16C.
