"The conversation around datacentre growth and national initiatives to develop and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications has dominated the datacentre narrative in 2025. It has concentrated on the physical size of the facilities, their substantial energy and water demand, and the inadequacy of the available energy infrastructure to support the proposed buildout. Sustainability seems to be an afterthought, if it is mentioned at all."
"Datacentre demands for more electricity generation capacity offers an opportunity to increase the deployment of carbon-free energy (CFE) generation assets and reduce the metric tons of CO2 per MWh of generation over time. In the first phase of the buildout, from 2025 to 2030, wind, solar, and battery systems will be the majority of the new CFE generation. The impact of their intermittent production profiles can be mitigated by permitting their standby generation systems to support the electricity grid during periods of low output,"
Datacentre expansion creates demand that can drive widespread deployment of carbon-free generation, lower grid CO2 intensity, and modernize energy infrastructure. Current focus on facility size and resource demand risks sidelining sustainability, yet new electricity requirements offer leverage to finance and site renewable and storage assets. From 2025–2030 wind, solar and battery systems will supply most new clean capacity, with standby generation permitted to support the grid and avoid gas peaker plants. Around 2030 cost-effective nuclear, advanced geothermal and other emerging CFE technologies should scale to displace additional gas generation. Operators are funding demonstrations. Facilities can adopt modular, high-efficiency, low-water cooling.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
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