Sep 14

Are power markets fit for purpose? The debate over reliability, affordability and who pays for the grid

Electricity markets are under renewed pressure. Surging demand forecasts from data centres and other large loads are colliding with anxiety over reliability, rising consumer bills, and the pace of new investment. In markets such as PJM and ERCOT, those tensions are turning an arc ... Show More

1h 20m

Sep 8

A new market for AI compute: What GPU futures could mean for energy

AI is turning compute into a strategic resource, and the scramble to secure GPU capacity is starting to look a lot more like a commodity market than a traditional cloud-services business. As data-centre developers, lenders and energy companies try to price the next wave of AI dem ... Show More

40m 9s

Sep 1

Demand for power generation and grid equipment is booming. Can the industry keep up?

In the AI revolution, one of the critical constraints is how much additional electricity can be made available to power new data centers. And it is often argued that one of the key constraints on the growth of electricity supply is capacity in the equipment supply industry. The r ... Show More

1h 8m

Jun 2024

AI’s Insatiable Needs Wreak Havoc on Power Systems

AI data centers are huge energy black holes, consuming as much energy as 30,000 homes – and their rapid growth is straining global grids. The numbers are astonishing: Sweden could see power demand from data centers roughly double over the course of this decade. In the UK, AI is e ... Show More

14m 44s

Mar 2024

New demand is straining the grid. Here’s how to tackle it.

When Brian Janous took charge of Microsoft’s clean energy strategy in 2011, the company’s data center demand was modest. He was measuring new demand in the tens of megawatts. Over the years, that grew to hundreds of megawatts of new demand as hyperscale computing expanded. And th ... Show More

29m 59s

Mar 2025

Data Center Dynamics: AI and Energy Demand

Energy-hungry data centers are on the rise. Power demand driven by artificial intelligence has been met by an increase in power purchase agreements (PPAs) for low-carbon energy. Meanwhile, DeepSeek has reduced demand through more efficient computations. So what is driving decisio ... Show More

36m 52s

Sep 2025

Data Centers Could Supercharge US Gas Demand

Artificial intelligence needs power, and lots of it. If all the data centers in the current US pipeline get built, they could suck up the electricity from 100 nuclear power plants and still be left wanting more. One obvious solution for supplying this massive demand is natural ga ... Show More

31m 10s

Dec 2025

Data centers: The race to power AI

Leaders worldwide are moving fast to deploy AI at scale. But scaling AI means more data centers—and data centers consume vast quantities of energy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Jesse Noffsinger and Pankaj Sachdeva speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia ... Show More

13m 3s

Jun 2024

Power surge: AI, renewable energy, and the future of electricity

The demand for power, driven in part by the rise of generative artificial intelligence, is set to grow to levels not seen in a generation. Goldman Sachs Research’s Carly Davenport, Alberto Gandolfi, and Brian Singer discuss the drivers behind their forecast of a surge in global p ... Show More

28m 40s

Jun 2024

Do we have enough energy to power AI?

Artificial Intelligence is something that’s all around us in our daily lives. And even if we do use it, whether that’s to search for a recipe online, make a funny photo, or ask it to help with our homework, every task that AI does uses power. That power is electricity. Around the ... Show More

22m 59s

Oct 2023

The carbon footprint of AI

Researchers estimate that the AI industry could consume as much energy annually as a country the size of the Netherlands by 2027. We take a look at the details and ways of reducing electricity demand. Also, we talk to one of Africa's leading technology entrepreneurs about how he ... Show More

27m 31s

Sep 2025

AI Burns Energy. But Could It Save Even More?

One big drawback of generative artificial intelligence is the vast energy and water that data centers use to power it. But AI also promises to save energy and fuel across industries such as transportation, manufacturing and building maintenance. Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the E ... Show More

10m 40s

Nov 2024

Nuclear Power: A Solution for AI's Energy Needs?

In this conversation, Jamie and Jaeden discuss the significant energy challenges faced by AI technologies and the efforts of major tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon to find sustainable energy solutions. They explore the potential of nuclear power as a clean energy s ... Show More

12m 10s

How will utilities meet surging power de...