From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Wasn’t there this issue, climate something, which used to be important to these people?

Day after nuclear power vow, Meta announces largest-ever datacenter powered by fossil fuels

Louisiana facility’s three natural gas turbine plants to churn out 2,262 MW

Brandon Vigliarolo 
Thu 5 Dec 2024  // 22:20 UTC 

Richland Parish, an idyllic rural area in northeast Louisiana, USA, is set to host a gigantic new Meta datacenter.

But instead of being powered by one of the on-site nuclear power plants Zuckercorp has previously advocated for, the facility is opting to drive its AI computing workload by burning more fossil fuels. 

The 4 million square foot, $10 billion facility, hailed by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry as “a game changer,” is one of the largest private capital investments in the history of the bayou state and will be Meta’s largest-ever datacenter, the Facebook parent said.

Meta has decided to jump the atomic gun with this project by partnering with Entergy instead. The power generation company plans to construct three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants with a total energy generation capacity of 2,262 megawatts. 

…Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/meta_largestever_datacenter/?td=rt-3a

As I predicted a few weeks ago, it was inevitable the insatiable AI driven demand for energy would outstrip the ability to satisfy that demand with low hanging fruit like re-commissioned nuclear plants. But I expected them to wait a few years until the climate movement was safely dead and buried, before forging ahead with a mad dash to commission new fossil fuel plants.

Wasn’t there this issue, climate something, which used to be important to these people?

Day after nuclear power vow, Meta announces largest-ever datacenter powered by fossil fuels

Louisiana facility’s three natural gas turbine plants to churn out 2,262 MW

Brandon Vigliarolo 
Thu 5 Dec 2024  // 22:20 UTC 

Richland Parish, an idyllic rural area in northeast Louisiana, USA, is set to host a gigantic new Meta datacenter.

But instead of being powered by one of the on-site nuclear power plants Zuckercorp has previously advocated for, the facility is opting to drive its AI computing workload by burning more fossil fuels. 

The 4 million square foot, $10 billion facility, hailed by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry as “a game changer,” is one of the largest private capital investments in the history of the bayou state and will be Meta’s largest-ever datacenter, the Facebook parent said.

Meta has decided to jump the atomic gun with this project by partnering with Entergy instead. The power generation company plans to construct three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants with a total energy generation capacity of 2,262 megawatts. 

…Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/meta_largestever_datacenter/?td=rt-3a

As I predicted a few weeks ago, it was inevitable the insatiable AI driven demand for energy would outstrip the ability to satisfy that demand with low hanging fruit like re-commissioned nuclear plants. But I expected them to wait a few years until the climate movement was safely dead and buried, before forging ahead with a mad dash to commission new fossil fuel plants.

AI Energy Surge – Microsoft to Re-Open Three Mile Island

To be fair Facebook’s energy partners Entergy claim in the article that the power plant could run on up to 30% green hydrogen. I’m sure this will happen one day. For sure. Sometime after they attach wings to pigs.

If you are interested in learning why AI requires such a crazy amount of energy, and why that insatiable demand for AI led big tech to dump big green, the following article delves into AI energy use in detail.

Artificial Intelligence: A Working Demonstration, and Why Big Tech Ditched Big Green