Across the world, large power hungry data centers full of computer servers and equipment running the internet. How does this affect the electrical grid? Ameren Illinois Vice President of Regulatory Policy and Energy Supply Matt Tomc explains:
“So much of what we do right now on our phones, our whole economies are digital now. All of these transactions taking place, you have all of these videos and streaming services out there, and then on top of that you have artificial intelligence applications. These applications use a lot of electricity. So we are seeing a race around the world to develop these data centers. They are good for local economies when they come in because they produce a lot of taxes, they are a large tax base, they can be very helpful, and they create jobs; a lot of good things about them, but they do use a lot of electricity and that is going to increase demand. I think this is a trend that is going to continue and as long as they are coming onto the grid, whether it is in Illinois or another state, they are going to be pulling electricity off of that grid and we are going to have to figure out a strategy to ensure that the supply is coming on enough to match that increase in demand.”
