AI data centers can almost harness the power of Triple San José. Who makes this law?

The County seat of Santa Clara is releasing its partnership with Pacific Geath & Electric, meaning the city is a destination for West Coast Chief Data Center Development. “The investor-owned utility now estimates there is enough heat in its pipeline to push the city’s electricity consumption nearly three times higher.

Those strategies are forcing major grid officials, PG&E and city officials to say, while raising questions about who pays for them and who pays for them and whether the state can clean up the energy.

Panelists at a relaxing event in Downtown San José tackled important issues. They include a local executive who works with PG & E in the construction of the city’s data – in building California to hold the economic time, the energy expert of Stanford presses the uncaught benefits promised by AI.

Their discussion focused on how quickly California should adapt to the new demand, what information the public should have the right to receive and how to keep customers who receive the full cost.

Proposals to tightly control data center development are in the Legislature this year. Going forward, many state agencies and commissions are expected to take on other negotiations, including the California Energy Commission, the Hoover Small Commission and the California Public Service Commission.

How much power will Californians actually need for new California data centers?

The surge in AI includes efforts by regulators and utilities to quickly predict how fast data centers will grow and how much power they will need. Companies can propose large facilities without committing to building them, computing demands behind AI change rapidly and cooling requirements vary from State to State. These things make long-term energy very difficult to reduce.

According to the state-of-the-state demand, the services report that the data centers, in the planning documents, requested 18.7 gigawatts of utility power. It’s enough to power nearly 18 million homes, compared to California’s estimated 14 to 15. The regulators do not expect all of those projects to be released, and assume that those will arrive gradually and operate below their requested capacity, producing a forecast of between 4 and 6 people in 2040.

Liang Min, director of STANFFOrd’s Bits & Watts program, and a speaker on the Couthfterers’ Panel, said that predictions are especially difficult because companies are releasing new AI applications – or “Application Layers, as he puts it – at breakneck speed. Including products like chatgpt that use large language models. No one knows which applications will go, and those uncertain bets are driving huge demands on the power grid.

“Right now we are really fighting,” said Min. “The risk is much higher in the parts of the application.”

The Office of Public Works, a watchdog for private consumers within the California Public Commission, recently warned that the rapid growth of data-centers could leave billions of dollars in Grid Renewal if projects never use or use more energy than promised.

“Taxpayers could end up paying for expensive infrastructure improvements that may not be needed for years — or,” the office said in its comment.

Factoring-Center-Cetereate Load forecasting medicine is a national challenge, but California will need better tools to keep Check rates, meet its cleaning methods and stay competitive to attract data centers and high-paying jobs.

Local authorities have also begun to face uncertainty. In San José, city energy officials say they are reluctant to get more power until they know which projects will actually be built. “We don’t want to buy more energy than we need. “That’s Job No. 1.”

What are the environmental concerns surrounding the data-center boom?

California’s data-center boom is bringing a wave of environmental concerns that we are only beginning to understand. Those concerns are water use, carbon emissions tied to power surges and air pollution from diesel backup generators.

Air quality is a particular problem. While the back-up producers run only occasionally, their presence is concentrated in a few regions. In Santa Clara County, where many facilities sit close together in tight spaces, the local effects can be large because so much equipment is packed into such a small space.

However, the situation still has limited visibility into what data centers are doing. Efforts to require more transparency have been made this year in opposition to Tech Tech Phonds. The only measure that became law gives regulators the authority to determine whether data centers are driving costs — but stops short of requiring environmental reporting.

Ahmad Thomas, the CEO of the Silicon Valley leadership group, and another panelist, said his group opposes the disclosure of electricity and water reporting methods because they will make California pay less attention.

“It’s very difficult to see a world where California is on top of the AI ​​pile if we don’t have the data center infrastructure that is — at least competitive with other states,” he added.

Consumer advocates say a lack of information leaves communities vulnerable. “We certainly think there needs to be more transparency — that’s a good thing,” said panelist Mark Toney, Executive Director of the Utility Reform Network, a RatePayer Advocacy group.

Will data centers slow California’s transition to clean energy?

The rapid growth of data centers could slow California’s energy transition if it keeps the state tied to natural gas. And some of the consequences of a carbon-rich energy system that cannot meet its energy needs are deeply controversial among environmentalists.

The government has promised to reach 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045, yet it still reports heavily on natural gas plants during hot summer days. The latest report of the next environmental tank 10 and UC Ruverside estimated that carbon-desit emissions will almost double from 2019 to 2023 – the size of the refined grid – struggling to pull the load driven by AI without high emissions.

World leaders are making policy shifts as demand for AI grows. California this year was allowed to join the Western energy market, a move driven in part by new demands on the grid, including data centers. Critics warn the change could expose the state to dirtier electricity from other countries and weaken its enforcement of clean energy laws.

Min of Stanford says California will need to rely on options that other environmentalists may avoid. That includes grabbing available resources like the diablo canyon nuclear card. In a recent report, the minutes against the state will also need more “clean, sustainable” energy – resources that can work night and minute such as geothermal or natural plants with carbon.

Pg & e agrees. A spokeswoman for the department, Stephanie Magallon told cydwaters in an email nuclear power, good carbon-Capture programs and large solar-pluer-bract projects-all options are being considered to ensure the power of the data in its region of its data. But the environmental justice movement in California has opposed the technology of carbon capture, calling it a tech that risks the use of fossil fuels that are full of diseases.

Mitchell said Community Choice Aggregators can handle the new data center load while keeping energy clean and cost-effective. San José’s Mix is ​​already 60% renewable, and it means a huge opportunity for flexibility – getting data centers to exchange in the afternoon so the city can avoid buying additional energy.

Will data centers increase your electricity bills?

California’s data-center boom is being used again to fight electricity bills, revealing a divide over whether these new customers will lower costs — or drive them higher than everyone else.

PG&E points out that adding large users such as data centers can reduce prices because fixed grid costs will be spread across multiple customers. It also says that the Grid is not distributed on average – it is operating at about 45% of capacity – although the grid faces real difficulties during peak hours and in certain parts of the system that are always running at their limits. If data centers can be connected to available power locations, PG&E argues, they can help spread costs without worsening congestion.

Toney, another panelist, urged the State to slow down, warning that California is planning a large infrastructure without knowing which data centers are real or how their costs will come to customers’ bills.

He said: “I am concerned that we have done what I call a faith-based policy,” he said. “The benefits are very speculative, but the costs are very real.”

Others, Toney said, have begun tightening regulations where data centers are growing. One law in Oregon would require the cost of the data grid to remain off the home loan. The Minnesota law would give the largest data centers their own billing tier so regulators can keep their costs separate from other customers’ electricity bills.

“This issue of data centers and the connection between available money and clean energy is a national concern, and California is certainly not behind this,” TheMoney said. “There’s a myth about California being the leader all the time.”

Alejandro Lazo writes calmly.