[LINK] Datacentres will strain Au energy supply, without change, expert says

[Tom Worthington]

On 10/7/24 22:18, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> AI datacentres to strain Australia’s energy supply, spike prices without change, expert says
> UBS analyst says tech firms must ensure datacentres have ability to power up and down like aluminium smelters
> 
> By Peter Hannam Wed 10 Jul 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/10/ai-datacentres-to-strain-australias-energy-supply-spike-prices-without-change-expert-says

Data centers should be able to respond to energy demands a lot quicker 
than a smelter. One way would be to switch the processing load to 
another center where there is power available. However this depends on 
the cost of the electricity relative to the cost of the data center's 
hardware. It might be cheaper to install batteries to keep the center 
running.

Apart from the processors themselves, there is scope to switch off the 
cooling for short periods (the cooling can use up to half the power). 
One data center in Canberra I visited had a large tank of chilled water 
to ride out problems with the cooling plant.


-- 
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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