Power Play: AI Boom Will Test the Energy Sector Like Never Before – It Could Also Reinvent It
A major economic shift is underway: the rise of artificial intelligence. From tools like ChatGPT to AI-driven infrastructure maintenance, the rapid adoption of AI is poised to reshape the way we work and how society operates. While we’re still in its early days, the AI race has already triggered a surge in demand for digital and physical infrastructure — especially in the energy sector, where data centers require massive amounts of power.
But this boom is also creating unprecedented challenges. Moody’s estimates that global data center capacity will double in the next five years. Despite this exponential growth, demand continues to outstrip the world’s capacity to build new data centers. McKinsey has warned of a “potential for a significant supply shortfall” by 2030, exacerbated by AI-ready data centers’ “particularly demanding” power density—the amount of electricity consumed per square meter. Its medium-term scenario expects global demand to more than triple to 219 GW, roughly equivalent to adding 160 medium-sized nuclear power plants to the grid by the end of the decade.
Balancing the AI boom with sustainable energy supply, and how AI can help solve this equation, was also the topic of the most recent TwinTalks. The global infrastructure best practices forum is hosted by infrastructure engineering software company Bentley Systems and industry partners including Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) and Tech for Climate Action. In late April, the event was held in Washington, D.C., during DC Climate Week, to discuss “AI and Energy Infrastructure: Unlocking Its Potential Through Data.”
Executives, civil engineers, politicians, policymakers, investors and other thought leaders and decision-makers packed a room at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library for a panel discussion moderated by David Gilford, chief policy officer at SIP, a technology-focused infrastructure company spun off from Alphabet. In an interactive panel, attendees heard from Michelle Patron, general manager of sustainability policy at Microsoft; Jeff Bladen, chief energy officer at Verrus, a SIP-backed builder of next-generation data centers; and Katie Ott, vice president of sustainability and climate strategy at Constellation, the largest clean energy producer in the U.S.
Held just a short drive from the world’s largest concentration of data centers in Northern Virginia, the panel discussed the latest developments and innovations in AI and energy, including data center design, the chips they use and the smart grid. Panelists also discussed emerging technologies that could provide solutions currently unavailable, such as nuclear fusion and quantum computing. For example, Commonwealth Fusion Systems is moving toward building the first commercial fusion reactor in Virginia, and Microsoft and Amazon both unveiled their quantum chips this spring. (Bentley’s chief sustainability officer, Chris Bradshaw, discussed the intersection of AI and infrastructure in a separate session.)
Panelists agreed that the AI boom will require significant amounts of new infrastructure, but cautioned against overreaction and emphasized using the existing system as efficiently as possible and expanding it in a sustainable way. “These are big challenges, big numbers,” Patron said. “It’s easy to get a little numb.”
The panel agreed that there is significant slack in the system, outside of peak hours and specific geographic constraints, that could be used more efficiently to meet growing energy needs and make the most of the current grid.
Constellation’s Ott encouraged the audience to make the most of the existing energy system. Microsoft’s Patron addressed the need to maximize energy efficiency to meet energy demand, including using AI to distribute loads on the grid and find unused capacity on transmission and distribution lines.
Verrus’ Bladen spoke about the importance of building flexible data centers that contribute to grid reliability and efficiency, referencing new research from Duke University’s Nicholas Institute that found that “nearly 100 GW of large new loads could be integrated with minimal impact, supporting economic growth while maintaining grid reliability and affordability.” Panelists emphasized that the AI revolution must be sustainable. Bladen highlighted the opportunity for large-scale batteries to store energy, contributing to grid reliability and reducing the industry’s reliance on diesel generators. Microsoft is increasing its use of renewable energy, building with “green” steel and concrete, and reusing or recycling 90 percent of its data center equipment. Ott explored how existing nuclear facilities could be expanded to meet demand, as well as greenfield investments in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These are smaller than traditional nuclear plants, can be built more quickly, and provide reliable, carbon-free electricity.
Summing up the event, Rory Linehan, Bentley’s director of infrastructure policy advancement, said that “no one knows for sure” yet what the future of AI and energy will look like. “The demand for AI and cloud computing, building electrification, air conditioning, and electric vehicle upgrades will determine what energy demand will look like in the next five years and what infrastructure we need,” he said. “But it’s clear that there will be pressure on our sustainable energy sources as we look to the future.”
AI, which is causing that pressure, may also be part of the answer. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, told Congress in early April that the relationship between AI and energy was “deeply synergistic.” He told lawmakers that “AI itself offers the keys to unlocking a modernized, efficient and secure energy future. AI can optimize grid operations, predict failures, increase resilience against disruptions, both physical and cyber, and accelerate the development of next-generation energy sources. This synergy is a critical strategic advantage if we choose to harness it.”
The optimism was certainly shared by our Twin Talks panelists. While the proliferation of AI poses significant challenges to meeting energy demand, it also promises to unleash a productivity revolution, improving the lives of communities across the U.S. and around the world.
The team behind TwinTalks will be in New York City on May 22. Join them at the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit. You can register here.
Tomas Kellner is Bentley’s chief storyteller. An engineer by training with a career in journalism and media, he writes about the intersection of AI, digital twins, and the future of infrastructure.
