Data centers for AI could require power equivalent to five Hoover Dams

Across the country, Americans are using the internet at every hour of every day. According to a 2024 Pew Research Poll, 96% of adults reported using the internet at least occasionally on a mobile device. That number has risen gradually since May 2000, when just 48% reported occasional use. With more people online, energy providers have begun preparing for a higher demand for electricity.

“The internet use was overstated, as it turns out, at least in the early going. And then it caught up, and we saw the consumptive use later,” Constellation President and CEO Joseph Dominguez said.

But when it comes to new artificial intelligence, Dominguez says widespread usage happened almost immediately and has expanded faster than the internet boom. White House A.I. and Crypto Czar David Sacks agrees.

“The adoption is faster than any previous technology. It’s faster than the internet, it’s faster than the iPhone. So, it’s being adopted very quickly,” Sacks said. “Still, roughly half the public hasn’t tried it yet.”

Fox News Polling shows 57% of registered voters rarely or never use artificial intelligence. Twenty-seven percent said they use the technology daily. Usage could be driven by their opinion of the technology. Those who saw A.I. as bad for society were less familiar with it and said they used it rarely (77%). Those who consider A.I. a good thing used it more regularly (47%). Experts believe A.I. use will only increase.

“OpenAI’s ChatGPT, when they launched, was the fastest-growing adoption of any consumer technology product ever back in November 2022, but that’s a drop in the bucket as to what they have now,” said senior advisor Gregory Allen with the Wadhwani A.I. center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In order to supply the increasing demand and continue advancing A.I. technology, data centers are providing a 24-hour connection.

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A graph of annual energy consumption (Fox News / Fox News)

“Running all of these computational resources that modern A.I. needs requires an awful lot of electricity,” Allen said.

A.I. models are frequently trained to remain relevant. Software requires regular updates and new data centers need large cooling systems to keep everything running. Allen says the largest A.I. algorithms will require between 1 and 5 gigawatts of electricity to operate.

“One gigawatt is about one Hoover Dam’s worth of electricity. So, imagine five Hoover Dams being used to just power one data center full of one company’s A.I.,” Allen said.

The growing complexity and need for updated infrastructure has put a strain on available resources.

“Data centers have become very large. So when you think about it, we need land that needs to be zoned. We need to get permits so that we can build these facilities, and we need to bring more electricity,” Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith said.

Data centers are often clustered in certain areas. According to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, the area’s 250 facilities handle around 70% of global internet traffic. In areas with high concentration, tech companies can face delays in connecting to the grid. Overseas, some countries and localities have placed restrictions on how many data centers can be built. Stateside, Dominguez says President Donald Trump has taken some actions to help speed up some of the permitting processes.

“The executive orders are now cutting through a lot of the red tape, and effectively we’re not required to do things that we were required to in the past,” Dominguez said.

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Facebook parent Meta Platforms will invest $800 million in a nearly 1-million square foot hyperscale data center in Kansas City, Missouri. (Meta/Kansas City Area Development Counci)

Before a nuclear site is built, producers are required to obtain an early site permit that checks geology, site conditions and whether a new facility can be built. 

“It makes sense if you’ve never built a nuclear reactor in that place before. But in our case, we have existing reactors that have operated in these communities for decades,” Dominguez said. “Currently the NRC regulations require us to go through a laborious exercise that costs about $35 million a pop to verify what we already know and that is that nuclear could go there. As a result of the president’s executive orders, that’s no longer gonna be required.”

Once a nuclear site is up and running, future data centers could also plug in directly to the site. Electricity would be in constant supply.

“It runs like a freight train day or night, winter or summer, regardless of weather condition,” Dominguez said.

Nuclear plants operate at full capacity, more so than any other energy source, making it a reliable choice for tech companies.

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Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Salem Township, Pennsylvania. (Fox News / Fox News)

“Nuclear power is a good source of electricity for A.I. and many other things as well,” Smith said. “In the United States, we’ve gone many decades without adding new sources of nuclear power.”

U.S. reactors supply nearly 20% of the nation’s power. The 93 nuclear generators create more electricity annually than the more than 8,000 wind, solar and geothermal power plants combined. Dominguez said that 24/7 energy supply may never be necessary and having a mix of sources is important. Constellation also develops solar energy along with nuclear.

“We have to develop 20 times as much solar to get the same impact as one megawatt of nuclear energy,” Dominguez said.