Amazon planning large data center next to nuclear power station in Pennsylvania | Hacker News Reader

Amazon planning large data center next to nuclear power station in Pennsylvania

datacenterdynamics.com

11 pointsbelter3 comments

> During the public meeting, residents questioned what will happen to the data centers when the nuclear power plant is eventually decommissioned. One reactor is set to be decommissioned in 2042, while the other is slated to be shut down in 2044. However, their licenses could be extended.

Of course, nobody is thinking that far ahead. If we cared about the future, we wouldn't be building energy-draining data centers anywhere.

The grid in Pennsylvania is mostly gas and coal. If we actually wanted to eliminate emissions and electrify everything, then we would take a triage approach to building any new infrastructure.

Nameplate of the Susquehanna generator is ~2.6GW. As long as that much new firm renewables capacity comes online in the next 20 years close enough to get power to the facility with transmission, this is not a terrible problem to solve.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/images/figure_6_01_c... (yellow is new solar going in over the next 12 months; refer to proximity of large out of state installations to this generator)

https://www.gem.wiki/Susquehanna_nuclear_power_plant

> According to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory compiled by the Environment America Research & Policy Center, Pennsylvania has enough solar potential today to meet the state's electric demand in 2020 by almost fivefold.

https://www.delcotimes.com/2023/11/09/guest-column-pa-is-los...

In short, this is a reasonable solution today (colo'ing datacenter load near this low carbon generator) and can be solved for in the future. It's actually very good imho that folks today are taking into account carbon emissions when citing this type of load/demand, versus just dropping datacenters anywhere (looking at you Missouri!).

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/05/22/huge-1-2-million-pan...

> The largest solar power project in Wyoming, which plans to supply electricity to a burgeoning infrastructure of power-hungry data centers in south Cheyenne, was given the green light for construction Tuesday by a key state permitting agency.

> As long as that much new firm renewables capacity comes online in the next 20 years close enough to get power to the facility with transmission, this is not a terrible problem to solve.

Nuclear and renewables are not 1:1 interchangeable. Nuclear adds to the base electric capacity —- it’s a constant 2GW. To replace it with intermittent renewables requires several times that amount of capacity.

And electricity is only about 20% of our energy use. As we’re electrifying heating and transportation, all of that adds an enormous demand to the electric grid. The electricity powering Amazon’s 900MW data center could be used to power people’s basic needs.

The “energy transition” is not a simple problem to solve —- if it were, we’d be doing it. In reality, additional renewable generation is only adding to the total energy consumption, not replacing fossil fuels.

Like I said, if we cared about the future, we’d take a triage approach to any new electric loads.

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