Meta and other AI firms turn to gas generators for data centers

FORMAT B - Trend

In short: Big AI data centers are using so much electricity that some companies are adding on-site natural gas generators to keep the power steady.

What's going on

Companies building large data centers, the buildings that hold rows of computers, are running into a basic problem: getting enough electricity, all the time. The New York Times reports that Meta and other firms are planning to use natural gas turbines and so-called peaker plants, which are backup generators that can start quickly when the local power system cannot keep up.

The scale can be hard to picture. Senator Bernie Sanders pointed to a Meta data center being developed in Louisiana and said it could use three times more electricity than the entire city of New Orleans. Based on typical city power use, that would be roughly 30 to 36 terawatt-hours a year, which is similar to powering about 750,000 to 900,000 US homes.

This is part of a wider rise in data center electricity use. US data centers used about 183 terawatt-hours in 2024, about 4.4% of the country’s electricity. Some forecasts say that could grow to 426 to 606 terawatt-hours by 2030, driven largely by AI. Think of it like adding many new factories that run day and night, except the “machines” are computers.

Meta says it pays the full energy costs for its data centers so they are not passed on to consumers. Critics argue that the added demand can still strain local power lines and may require public spending on grid upgrades.

What to watch

Watch for details on how often these gas generators run, and what rules states set for their pollution. Also watch whether more long-term options, like more wind and solar, or nuclear and geothermal power, can be built fast enough to reduce the need for gas.

Source: NYTimes