Will Evil Google's AI Demands Exact A High Price from New Yorkers Who Foolishly Went for Solar and Wind? Could Be!
I received a very interesting email yesterday from a reader. It suggested Google, which already has roughly 40 data centers around the world, may be planning another in the vicinity of Spring City, Chester County, Pennsylvania near the Limerick nuclear plant owned by Constellation Energy. The data center reportedly will be a part of evil Google’s evil AI ventures. Those of you who doubt the evil part only need to peruse Joe Allen’s book Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity to understand why I use that adjective, but that’s not the point I want to talk about right now.
Google, you see, needs massive amounts of carbon-free electricity to do AI and the Limerick power plant may well become the source of that carbon-free energy. The AI electricity demand is, of course, going to change everything energy-wise. Its energy needs are grotesquely large and they can only be met with large dispatchable energy providers.
Solar and wind won’t generate any measurable energy for that purpose because data centers operate around the clock and there isn’t enough land anywhere close to any data center to support inefficient solar and wind and supply the amount of energy needed for AI. Even Larry Fink is forced to admit that.
So, it’s only natural that Google would look to Limerick to supply its needs. Indeed, that’s the word on the street. Take it for what it’s worth, but it’s as fully logical as even a new-age Spock could hope. Indeed, there is apparently a lot of work happening at the plant to make it suitable for that purpose. I’m told, in fact, the operator of the plant has cut out all overtime and is moving saved money to a $75 million fund to help pay for the changes needed for an upgrade to the distribution system.
Assuming this is more or less true, what are the implications? The PJM grid is in better position than many to deal with rising energy needs (way better than ERCOT, for example). Nonetheless, the growing demands of AI are likely to change that in the not too distant future. The real impact in the short-term, though, is likely to be on PJM’s neighboring grid; the NYISO system serving New York State. New York City is the big gorilla there, demanding humongous amounts of energy.
Recall the situation in New York. Andrew Cuomo forced the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear station. He then put the Empire State on a crash program to replace this nuclear energy with solar and wind industrial facilities plastered all over Upstate New York. He also did an early version of Joe Biden’s oil and gas destruction program, although the latter hasn’t worked so well as yet. And, Hochul is also running with it, meaning New York has relatively few dispatchable energy options these days.
One of those options has been to pull in electricity from the PJM grid and that includes the Limerick plant. PJM puts out a “State of the Market Report” and the most recent quarterly version for 2024 includes this table:
Notice PJM, over the first quarter, exported a net of 5,798.1 GWh of electricity to NYISO through four different interchange points located along the eastern border of PJM with New York.
That’s a lot of electricity, some of it no doubt from Limerick, and it goes to New York primarily because PJM electricity is a bargain for New York. But, it’s starting to look like Google is going to pay more and get that electricity to satisfy both its energy and virtue signaling needs, leaving New York City with even less dispatchable energy than now. Meanwhile, New York City wants to close its fossil-fueled peaker plants. Talk about a recipe for foolishness!
So, there it is. I’m no grid expert, but I believe what I’ve been told and I can count. I also know evil Google’s needs will not be denied. They’re the masters of the universe, after all, or so they want us to believe. The bills for New York’s Climate Act are coming due rapidly. Moreover, New York’s catering to the demands of the anti-fracking Rockefeller family and their NRDC gang has put it in a very deep hole of its own making.
#NYISO #Dispatchable #PJM #Limerick #Electricty #Nuclear
Micron is planning four semiconductor manufacturing facilities in upstate New York. If one believes the figures in the press the Micron operations will require a staggering 2 GW of capacity. This is essentially the entire output of an average pwr nuclear power plant.