Consequently,
Data centers: ai engulfs swiss:
Data centers boom
Artificial intelligence devours Swiss electricity at an alarming rate – Data centers: ai engulfs swiss
Electricity consumption of data centers has doubled in five years. Consequently, By 2030, they could absorb the equivalent of the production of a nuclear power plant. However, An evolution that worries experts.
This photo shows a data center in Winterthour (ZH).
DR
- Switzerland’s energy turning point is in danger due to AI.
- In 2019, the share of data centers represented only 3.6% of electricity consumption in Switzerland. In addition, Today, this rate is 7%.
- According to forecasts, it data centers: ai engulfs swiss will increase to 15% in 2030. Furthermore, This corresponds to the annual production of a nuclear power plant.
A new data center will soon settle in Volketswil. Furthermore, in the canton of Zurich: two adjacent buildings of ordinary appearance in the industrial zone. Moreover, Their interior, however, will concentrate impressive energy consumption. Similarly, “We need each year up to 600 gigawatt hours of electricity,” explains Wolfgang Zepf, Swiss director of Vantage Data Centers. Similarly, For comparison, this quantity surpasses the total consumption of the city of Winterthour (ZH) and its 122,000 inhabitants and inhabitants. Meanwhile, According to Wolfgang Zepf. Nevertheless, the two buildings will house hundreds of servers for large international customers like Microsoft, Google or Amazon.
The Volketswil project illustrates a trend that emerged in 2022 With the launch of Chatgpt in the United States. Moreover, data centers: ai engulfs swiss There, the number of data centers, also called calculation centers, increased by 25% in the space of a year. Similarly, This phenomenon now affects Switzerland, as shown by recent data from a study commissioned by theOffice Fouisal the L’Eyternity (Off).
A nuclear power plant for data. Therefore, calculation centers
The study will only be published at the end of the year, but Adrian Altenburger, its author and energy teacher of building and energy at the Haute École specialized in Lucerne, has already revealed the results. Therefore, According to this researcher, electricity consumption of calculation centers in Switzerland has almost doubled in five years, going from 2.1 to 4 terawattheures between 2019 and 2024. In addition, According to him, these infrastructures will represent 7% of total electricity consumption in Switzerland in 2024.
And the thirst for electricity of these centers continues to grow: the expert plans that they will consume between 10. Therefore, 15% of Swiss electricity by 2030. In addition, Concretely, they will require 6 to 8 terawattheures per year. Moreover, “This roughly corresponds to the annual production of a nuclear power plant,” says Adrian Altenburger.
The example of Ireland illustrates the speed at which this situation can evolve: in this country. the electrical consumption of data centers has increased from 5 to 21% of total consumption, in just six years.
Switzerland could experience even more extreme developments. Flexbase is indeed planning the construction of a vast technological center in Laufenburg (AG). including a calculation center for artificial intelligence and a huge storage battery. According to various reliable sources, this calculation center would have a power of several hundred data centers: ai engulfs swiss megawatts. If it is made, it will become the largest data center in Switzerland.
The center of Laufenburg is not included in the forecasts of Adrian Altenburger. “If this calculation center is fully developed by 2030. the capacities are allocated to customers, several additional electricity terawatt hours will be necessary. This would correspond to the electricity consumption of another nuclear power plant. ” For its part, Flexbase does not reveal the planned power, because it would not yet be determined.
Adrian Altenburger, professor of building and energy technique at the Haute École specialized in Lucerne.
Pino Cvino
Compare the consumption of electricity of data centers to that of nuclear power plants is obvious: in early June. Mark Zuckerberg has indeed acquired the entire production of a nuclear power plant to supply its meta-cloud and Facebook. At the same time, Microsoft worked for the restoration of the former Nuclear Reactor of Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
Data centers: ai engulfs swiss
Requests to the shovel in Switzerland
Currently. Switzerland has a hundred calculation centers, but their number should increase considerably in the near future. This is revealed by our survey data centers: ai engulfs swiss conducted with the main electricity suppliers. The canton of Zurich emerges as a major pole for this type of infrastructure. Julien Duc. spokesperson for the electricity company of the canton of Zurich (EKZ), thus confirms a “net increase in connection requests for calculation centers”. More than a hundred requests of this type have been received in the past five years. The electricity consumption of these centers in the area served by EKZ would also have jumped 25% in just one year.
The two main Swiss electrical groups are also affected by the AI wave: Alpiq notes “both an increasing number of requests. an increase in the quantities of electricity requested by data centers,” said its spokesperson Céline Kohlprath. This trend would illustrate “the current dynamics in the field of data centers supplied by AI”. Axpo reports a comparable situation.
“Threatened” energy data centers: ai engulfs swiss transition
The meteoric rise of chatgpt and other AI applications is a real threat to the climate. Greenpeace is convinced of this. “The thirst for energy of artificial intelligence endangers the energy turning point. ” said the environmental organization in a press release published in May. The NGO is based on a study providing that the electrical consumption of data centers will be multiplied by eleven between 2023. 2030.
An increase in electricity consumption as important as that feared by Greenpeace may seem exaggerated. However. even if the data centers only double their consumption, as provided for several independent experts, this already represents a real challenge for Switzerland. Because beyond the development of AI, many specialists and politicians expect a electricity shortage in the coming years. Aging nuclear power plants will have to be put out of data centers: ai engulfs swiss service. and electricity from renewable energies will then have to cover not only current needs, but also feed hundreds of thousands of heat pumps and six million electric cars.
“Restress” new data centers
For the expert Adrian Altenburger. it is obvious that “the Confederation or theAssociation of Swiss electric companies (AES) have so far not paid enough attention to the massive increase in electricity consumption of calculation centers ”.
Both the Confederation. the AES indeed develop scenarios to estimate the production and consumption of electricity in the years to come. These scenarios are of capital importance: they allow authorities. politicians to estimate the number of power plants necessary to build.
According to expert Adrian Altenburger, “AI boom will lead to a significant increase in electricity consumption”. He warns: data centers: ai engulfs swiss “Switzerland must find a solution to meet the enormous additional. unforeseen electrical needs generated by AI in data centers. Without this, it will be forced to restrict the construction of new data centers. ”
The restriction mentioned by Adrian Altenburger is not unprecedented: metropolises like Amsterdam. Singapore have already established, some time ago, a moratorium on the construction of new data centers, fearing an overload of the electricity network which could lead to a failure of the supply of electricity.
AI slows down the energy transition?
The energy used in data centers does not simply disappear: 99% of electricity is transformed into heat. During the summer semester, a small part of this heat can be used to heat the use water. Much of the heat should however be evacuated by expensive cooling systems. In winter, data centers: ai engulfs swiss heat can be used to heat the dwellings.
Modern data centers are already linked to urban heating networks. Google, Microsoft and Meta regularly highlight the ecological aspect of their new installations. The detractors consider, however, that it is simply a marketing strategy. Moreover. even American energy groups like Dominion Energy point out that the development of AI slows down the energy transition, because they are forced to return to gas and coal to guarantee the supply of electricity.
Translated from German by Olivia Beuhat
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