Source TechCrunch · Published · Open the original ↗
Markets
The data center boom has an upside: innovation for the US grid
As the AI boom stresses the existing power grid, all sorts of new opportunities for grid modernization are also emerging as a result, industry insiders say.
The AI boom has led to a gargantuan surge in energy demand across the country. Critics say this upswell in connections is enacting a stress test on America’s aging grid infrastructure. Worries abound that, in the short term, the energy crunch could lead to surging electrical bills and, in the long term, may eventually lead to outages or other technical problems.
At TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this month, industry insiders tempered much of this criticism with optimism about how the flood of new energy connections could actually be opening the door for grid modernization. Apoorv Bhargava, founder and CEO of WeaveGrid, Tim Heidel, CEO of Veir, and Kristin Eberhard, VP of policy at Rewiring America, said that though the grid faces new challenges, there are also plenty of new opportunities as well.
The opening of the report, quoted unchanged from TechCrunch. The full text continues at the source.