AI’s Energy Appetite Puts Data Center Power Demand, Utility Stocks in Focus
Nvidia and newcomer Emerald AI announced Monday at CERAWeek in Houston they're teaming up with AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy & Power, and Vistra on what they’re calling “flexible” AI data centers. The idea: these centers can cut back or reschedule their power draw when the grid gets tight—helping speed up new connections as electricity demand, not just chips, becomes the bottleneck for the sector. The timing isn’t complicated. Just last week, Google broadened deals enabling utilities to trim as much as 1 gigawatt from its data center load when the grid is under pressure. Then, two days ago, SoftBank and AEP rolled out plans for a 10-gigawatt campus in Ohio, supported by 9.2 GW of new gas-fired