3 ms·

If solar+battery were cheaper wouldn't the new AI data centers be opting to pay to build that rather than nuclear or LPG options?

teamonkey 1mo ago
They are cheaper, that’s why in most of the world, datacentres are being built where there’s copious solar or wind power. The problem is that they need full power 24/365.
- fpoling 1mo ago
  Data centers with good load balancing between regions do not need exactly the same power 24/365 so the latest solar-wind-storage is already cheaper in theory. But it would take few years before production of sodium and other batteries will scale up and the mean time a turbine powered by natural gas wins.
Procrastes 1mo ago
Some of the data centers in Texas are at least partly being built to turn surplus natural gas into cash.[1][2] 1. https://energynow.com/2026/03/us-natgas-prices-at-waha-hub-in-texas-remain-negative-for-record-25th-day/ https://energynow.com/2026/03/us-natgas-prices-at-waha-hub-i... 2. https://www.rbccm.com/en/insights/2026/05/natural-gas-powers-the-data-center-boom https://www.rbccm.com/en/insights/2026/05/natural-gas-powers...
to11mtm 1mo ago
Nuclear, FBOW, has one big advantage. Namely, It's very easy to 'design to load' where you don't need to worry about the next shipment of Coal, or an extended weather event causing excessive cloud cover and depleting your reserves. Heck, even as far as compared to LPG, you don't have to worry as much about disruptions or possible cost shifts around LPG supply. Yes, I'm possibly tongue-in-cheek handwaving specific types of 'weather events' here and potential impacts, i.e. Tsunamis... OTOH it's a lot easier in current gen designs to make something that would have minimal risk for something, say, in the middle of nowhere Texas.
irq-1 1mo ago
https://www.fastcompany.com/91500104/google-minnesota-data-center-electric-bills https://www.fastcompany.com/91500104/google-minnesota-data-c... > Google’s new Minnesota data center comes with the world’s largest battery—and won’t raise electric bills > The tech giant says it will fund enough new wind, solar, and long-duration storage to cover the project’s power demand and avoid shifting costs to ratepayers.
rcxdude 1mo ago
It works better on a geographically spread-out grid, and the data centers are running into the same limit that renewable plants are, which is that the grid is struggling to keep up (in large part, in many places, due to a history of underinvestment).
mayama 1mo ago
To be specific, solar with 4hr storage is price competitive with grid right now. Storage becomes expensive after that at 8hrs even with projected sodium or lithium prices. For a datacenter usage they probably need couple of days storage at 50hrs like the planned google datacenter. Only alternate chemistry batteries that could be scaled up easily like flow, iron air, zinc etc. could be competitive for multi day storage, though most of these are still at experimental or pilot stages.

teamonkey 1mo ago

They are cheaper, that’s why in most of the world, datacentres are being built where there’s copious solar or wind power. The problem is that they need full power 24/365.

fpoling 1mo ago
Data centers with good load balancing between regions do not need exactly the same power 24/365 so the latest solar-wind-storage is already cheaper in theory. But it would take few years before production of sodium and other batteries will scale up and the mean time a turbine powered by natural gas wins.

Procrastes 1mo ago

Some of the data centers in Texas are at least partly being built to turn surplus natural gas into cash.[1][2] 1. https://energynow.com/2026/03/us-natgas-prices-at-waha-hub-in-texas-remain-negative-for-record-25th-day/ https://energynow.com/2026/03/us-natgas-prices-at-waha-hub-i... 2. https://www.rbccm.com/en/insights/2026/05/natural-gas-powers-the-data-center-boom https://www.rbccm.com/en/insights/2026/05/natural-gas-powers...

to11mtm 1mo ago

Nuclear, FBOW, has one big advantage. Namely, It's very easy to 'design to load' where you don't need to worry about the next shipment of Coal, or an extended weather event causing excessive cloud cover and depleting your reserves. Heck, even as far as compared to LPG, you don't have to worry as much about disruptions or possible cost shifts around LPG supply. Yes, I'm possibly tongue-in-cheek handwaving specific types of 'weather events' here and potential impacts, i.e. Tsunamis... OTOH it's a lot easier in current gen designs to make something that would have minimal risk for something, say, in the middle of nowhere Texas.

irq-1 1mo ago

https://www.fastcompany.com/91500104/google-minnesota-data-center-electric-bills https://www.fastcompany.com/91500104/google-minnesota-data-c... > Google’s new Minnesota data center comes with the world’s largest battery—and won’t raise electric bills > The tech giant says it will fund enough new wind, solar, and long-duration storage to cover the project’s power demand and avoid shifting costs to ratepayers.

rcxdude 1mo ago

It works better on a geographically spread-out grid, and the data centers are running into the same limit that renewable plants are, which is that the grid is struggling to keep up (in large part, in many places, due to a history of underinvestment).

mayama 1mo ago

To be specific, solar with 4hr storage is price competitive with grid right now. Storage becomes expensive after that at 8hrs even with projected sodium or lithium prices. For a datacenter usage they probably need couple of days storage at 50hrs like the planned google datacenter. Only alternate chemistry batteries that could be scaled up easily like flow, iron air, zinc etc. could be competitive for multi day storage, though most of these are still at experimental or pilot stages.