US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
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US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
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Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#2[flagged]
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#3What an absolute ecological disaster. If bubble there is, now would be a great time for it to pop.
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#4What an absolute ecological disaster. If bubble there is, now would be a great time for it to pop.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing.
So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does:
https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre...
"In the first two months of 2026, China added:
32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity, down 18% from last year. 11 GW of wind power capacity, up 19% from last year. 20 GW of thermal power capacity, up 414% from last year. 1.2 GW of hydro power capacity, down 36% from last year. 1.2 GW of nuclear power capacity. "
Edit: to the proponents of nuclear - i think nuclear is very damaging to society as it promotes corrupt crony-government capitalism instead of market forces.
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#5What an absolute ecological disaster. If bubble there is, now would be a great time for it to pop.
And especially terrible for the communities that have to live with gas turbines or other local power generators as neighbors. Noise and air pollution constantly [1].
But fuck them, they are poor people so we don't care about them /s .
Additionally, people against data centers are accused of being paid by China [2]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/13/elon-mus... [2] https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/kevin-oleary-trump-administra...
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#6What an absolute ecological disaster. If bubble there is, now would be a great time for it to pop.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing. So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does: https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre... "In the first two months of 2026, China added: 32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacit…
solar farms are worst kind of power source for constant loads like datacenters running AI training
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing. So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does: https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre... "In the first two months of 2026, China added: 32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacit…
solar farms are worst kind of power source for constant loads like datacenters running AI training
I'm hoping the kind of gas turbines being installed on these datacenters are capable of quickly responding to a load change, meaning the primary source of energy could be solar during the day and complement when there isn't enough energy.
But I haven't looked into where these datacenter are being placed, I'm assuming that although solar is cheap now, the surface needed would make the purchase of nearby land probably not worth it. These new categories of datacenters are becoming very energy dense...
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing. So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does: https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre... "In the first two months of 2026, China added: 32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacit…
solar farms are worst kind of power source for constant loads like datacenters running AI training
That's why we are getting clean, beautiful coal the likes of which nobodys ever seen before!
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing. So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does: https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre... "In the first two months of 2026, China added: 32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacit…
solar farms are worst kind of power source for constant loads like datacenters running AI training
you're just incorrect. You probably missed 2 points :
- battery storage
- and in the article
"However, AI labs and some hyperscalers have relaxed those requirements as there is now a lower uptime tolerance applied to both inference and training, not just training. Many of Meta’s self-built AI datacenters, for example, target just two nines of uptime and forgo backup generators entirely, as detailed in our Industrials Model."
Re: US Grid Constraints: Towards 40GW+ of Behind-the-Meter Datacenter by 2028?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alternatively the crisis can be used to accelerate right development - quickly build up solar farms and transmission lines. Both of these can be done quickly if there were a political will. Yet, that will is missing. So, we're talking 40GW. Lets see what China does: https://energyandcleanair.org/china-energy-and-emissions-tre... "In the first two months of 2026, China added: 32.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacit…
solar farms are worst kind of power source for constant loads like datacenters running AI training
but you can't trust especially hyperscalers with securely sealed HEUs in shipping containers