In this episode of "Abundant Energy," Nicholas Institute expert Tim Profeta joined host Todd Thomas and fellow guest Tom Mathew, senior strategy manager at NorthStar Clean Energy, to explore one of the biggest infrastructure questions of the AI era: How do we power the rapid growth of data centers without sacrificing affordability, reliability or sustainability?

Discussions at the third annual “From Billions to Trillions” summit ranged from filling clean energy investment gaps to addressing AI energy demand to navigating political risks … and much more.

The growth of data centers, alongside electric vehicles and manufacturing, is driving the largest surge in electricity demand in the U.S. in decades, Nicholas Institute expert Tim Profeta explained to WHYY News in Philadelphia. This could present an opportunity to improve the grid—or it could raise costs for households and undermine grid reliability, Profeta said.

Rapid electricity demand growth from data centers and other large loads is straining grid reliability and energy affordability for existing customers, and traditional utility planning approaches are proving too slow and costly to keep pace. A new policy brief from experts at Duke University and Roselle LLP details how states could facilitate access to power for large loads while protecting existing customers.

Data centers are coming to North Carolina, raising questions about infrastructure costs, energy sources and community impact. State Rep. Jeff McNeely (R-Iredell), Tim Profeta (Nicholas Institute) and Nick Jimenez (Southern Environmental Law Center) offered some answers during a roundtable discussion on PBS North Carolina's "State Lines."

The interim report puts forth a set of recommendations to ensure that North Carolinians have affordable, reliable and clean energy supplies amid rapidly growing demand for energy, according to a press release from Gov. Stein's office. Recommendations include developing "options to encourage load flexibility," an issue that Nicholas Institute expert and task force member Tim Profeta is studying with Duke University colleagues.

Tim Profeta is an executive in residence at the Nicholas Institute whose areas of expertise include climate change and energy policy, the Clean Air Act, and adaptive use of current environmental laws to address evolving environmental challenges. Part of a Duke Climate Commitment series of climate research profiles.

New Jersey Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill announced Nicholas Institute Executive in Residence Tim Profeta as one of the 17 experts who will serve on her "Making Energy More Affordable and Reliable" transition action team.

A seminal white paper from Duke University researchers suggests "headroom" available for data centers to reduce their energy consumption during system peaks could unlock up to 100 GW of spare capacity to integrate these large loads. Elizabeth K. Whitney, managing principal at Meguire Whitney, writes in Latitude Media about how hyperscalers would need to curtail their energy use from the grid to tap into that headroom.

For 20 years, the Nicholas Institute has pursued the “quest for yes”— bringing people together across differences, grounding big ideas in evidence and co-creating durable solutions to environmental and energy challenges. On Oct. 23, the institute welcomed students, scholars, alumni and partners in the community to an anniversary celebration that blended reflection with forward momentum.

Established and emerging environmental leaders came together Oct. 23 for a celebration of the Nicholas Institute’s 20th anniversary, where University stakeholders reflected on a legacy of innovation and looked to carry the torch forward in a collective “quest for yes,” reports The Chronicle.

Before data centers come online, they need to have proactive plans to avoid drawing too much energy, said Duke University expert Tim Profeta, who co-authored a February analysis on how load flexibility could help manage rising U.S. energy demand. Regulators and utilities could require data centers to create those plans in exchange for jumping long queues to connect to the grid. “The biggest incentive is speed to interconnect to the grid,” Profeta told The Guardian.

During a symposium at Middlebury College, Nicholas Institute executive in residence Tim Profeta warned that U.S. data centers could double their share of national power consumption from 4% to 8% by 2030. Yet Profeta also suggested that AI’s high demand and hyperscaling might accelerate clean power adoption as tech giants promise to invest billions in geothermal, nuclear and storage technologies, reports The Middlebury Campus.

Businesses across industries are "in a sticky place because it’s such a fraught time politically," Nicholas Institute executive in residence Tim Profeta told The Wall Street Journal. But they "can’t shrink from the inevitability of needing to abate greenhouse gases," said Profeta, who helped develop greenhouse gas regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency during the Biden administration.

A new proposal calls for moving away from requiring the grid to have enough power plant capacity to accommodate all users at all times, and instead treat data centers and other superusers as a separate customer class with special rules and added flexibility, reports Inside Climate News. Even a bit of flexibility could have substantial ramifications for reducing the need to build new power plants, as demonstrated by a February analysis by Duke University researchers.