TL;DR

• AI data centers require far more power than traditional facilities.
• The electrical grid cannot yet support this scale or volatility.
• Onsite, islanded power systems are becoming the preferred approach.
• Project coordination is a major challenge across multiple suppliers.
• Automation providers play a key role in enabling speed-to-power.

Why this matters now

Many people are well aware that new AI data centers are having a significant impact on the electrical grid. What they may not realize is just how much of a shift that impact is from traditional operations.

In a recent article in EnergyTech, Emerson’s James Nyenhuis, an expert with decades of experience in the energy sector, shares just how big that impact is:

“AI-training data centers represent an unprecedented surge in power demand and volatility. New campuses anticipate 1,000 to 7,000 megawatts (MW) of usage, compared to the 50 to 100 MW of traditional large data centers. Moreover, they must come online quickly to capitalize on the current AI demand. This shift has pushed data center developers toward a new reality: controlling their own power destiny is critical for speed to power.”

This highlights the scale and urgency of the shift facing power infrastructure as AI adoption accelerates.

Takeaway: AI data centers are fundamentally changing power demand, requiring new approaches to infrastructure and planning.

Too much for the grid

The current electrical grid is not designed for the thousands of megawatts of unpredictable load that AI factories create. In fact, the associated load swings—as thousands of GPUs spin up and down in seconds—can potentially create damaging and dangerous impacts.

This means it will likely be years before most grids can accept connection from these massive facilities without intensive grid capacity studies. Those studies are too time consuming for the speed-to-market most AI-training data centers need, so they’re pursuing other options.

“To address this issue, a new power strategy has risen in parallel with the rapid buildout of data centers: onsite, islanded power systems. Building onsite generation allows AI-training data center developers to control their own path forward and meet their challenging schedules, but it also shifts responsibility for generation, controls, protections, and reliability directly onto the project developers.”

However, data center operators are not utilities, and, as such, are not accustomed to designing and building islanded power generation. Trying to navigate what each supplier needs, where system boundaries lie, and how interfaces are defined, all before engineering begins is a challenging task.

“One other core component is necessary to make such a strategy work: a project champion and coordinator. Today’s most effective project teams are leaning into their automation solutions provider to fill that role.”

Coordinating across multiple stakeholders becomes a critical success factor in these complex projects.

Takeaway: Strong coordination is required to successfully deliver complex, multi-partner power systems.

Expertise is critical

The most effective automation solutions providers are positioned to act as neutral, experienced orchestrators of AI data center power projects.

Tools like the DeltaV™ Automation Platform and Ovation™ Automation Platform, combined with deep industry experience, help deliver fast and successful outcomes.

“When project teams engage their automation solutions provider early, the provider can use its deep expertise to create a critical communications layer, helping facilitate and coordinate OEMs that might not normally work together, or that normally work solely within their own small piece of the puzzle. The chain of communication gains a central hub, helping ensure every participant can operate faster and more effectively.”

Early collaboration ensures alignment across all stakeholders and accelerates project timelines.

Takeaway: Early involvement of experienced automation providers improves coordination and speeds execution.

Strategy = speed

Speed-to-power cannot happen without a successful strategy. Because AI factories are so new, developing and implementing a strategy can often seem like an impossible task—but it is not.

Partnering with the right automation solutions provider means leveraging decades of expertise to eliminate roadblocks, improve collaboration, and drive project efficiency.

Takeaway: Strategic partnerships are key to accelerating AI data center deployment.