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Meta Enters Power Trading To Support Its AI Energy Needs (bloomberg.com) 12

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Meta is venturing into the complex world of electricity trading, betting it can accelerate the construction of new US power plants that are vital to its AI ambitions. From a report: The foray into power trading comes after Meta heard from investors and plant developers that too few power buyers were willing to make the early, long-term commitments required to spur investment, according to Urvi Parekh, the company's head of global energy. Trading electricity will give the company the flexibility to enter more of those longer contracts.

Plant developers "want to know that the consumers of power are willing to put skin in the game," Parekh said in an interview. "Without Meta taking a more active voice in the need to expand the amount of power that's on the system, it's not happening as quickly as we would like."
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Meta Enters Power Trading To Support Its AI Energy Needs More

Meta Enters Power Trading To Support Its AI Energy Needs

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  • It would be very bad economically if the AI boom popped. But there would be a lot of extra electricity on the market and improvements to the grid.
    • I really don't think all these datacenters will ever be built. There are always more plans and announcements than what comes to fruition. The only way so many datacenters will be needed (i.e. economically viable) is if AI is so revolutionary to the economy that it would affect our power consumption in very unpredictable ways, likely offsetting a lot of activity in meatspace.
      • If they get the power in place but don't finish the datacenter or it gets closed, then the public benefits from the new surplus. That's what I'm thinking.

        • Since we already produce significantly more electricity than we consume (source: eia.gov, energy facts page), are rising prices a reflection of utility companies lobbying utility commissions and cynically selling us a scarcity story, and if so, why would prices go down wih even more surplus?

          In short why faithfully stick to false models of rational pricing, given the evidence that prices are a lot noisier than mainstream economic theories allow?

        • Unfortunately it will not work that way. Meta and the other AI co's will find a way to weasel out of their power commitments that they should be stuck with, IE they have to pay for that power they promised they'd consume. Because they won't pay, the power companies that spent the capital to build out power generation will need to be given rate increases to cover that cost. Power price = capital + operating cost. Power is heavily regulated and they get to recoup cost + profit.
        • Backup power, in and of itself, isn't bad. But if the data centers don't come online, who's going to pay for all that capacity? The existing customers. Our rates will go up.

  • The trick is to raise prices enough that poor people can no longer heat their homes this winter. Then Facebook will have all the electricity they need without having to bribe trump into giving loan guarantees on nuclear plants.

  • They do realize that Enron was one of the few instances of the rich and powerful going to prison, right?

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