Data centres will be at the epicentre of a new AI ‘ramp up’ but there will be many challenges
27-Feb-25, Digital Infra Network
The UK government recently announced what it called its ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’ which recommended ways to grow the UK’s artificial intelligence sector, drive adoption of AI across the economy to boost growth and improve products and services. But how can data centre developers and operators optimise their power/energy solutions to facilitate the proliferation of high-density AI workloads?
Digital%20Infra%20Network.png "Data centres will be at the epicentre of a new AI ramp up (c)Digital Infra Network")
Image: Digital Infra Network
The government also revealed plans to set up a number of ‘AI Growth Zones’ with the aim of unlocking investment in AI-enabled data centres and support infrastructure by improving access to power and facilitating planning. What do these announcements mean for the energy industry? At first glance, the challenges seem immense, although not insurmountable.
Apart from the ever-present potential problem of rising energy costs, there are the obvious grid constraints that a massive expansion of data centres could expose. Capacity is already a problem on some existing power grids and the UK government’s AI drive will undoubtedly test limitations.