The artificial intelligence boom has a demand for turbo charges for electricity, and everyone in the US energy industry wants some action.
The latest participants are Chevron, the second largest petroleum and gas company in Japan. This is the opportunity to build a natural gas fuel power plant that supplies energy directly to the data center.
Chevron is working with the most famous San Francisco investment company, the No. 1 engine, is the most famous investment company in San Francisco in 2021. Companies say that you can order important equipment, scout potential sites, and make the first plant online. 3 years.
In an interview, Mike Worth, the highest executive officer of Chevron, said in an interview:
CHEVRON's announcement is a latest example of how much AI's promise (greedy power consumers) has changed the economy. Oil producers have re -adjusted their strategies and are lying on power generation. This is a business I swore earlier because it was much less profitable than excavation and processing of oil and gas. Last month, EXXON stated that he wanted to enter a business to sell power to data centers.
However, the prospect of the increase in AI data center and power demand is very uncertain, reminiscent that technology and energy shares have fallen on Monday. Investors were worried about the stunning progress of AI created by Deepseek, a unfamiliar Chinese emerging company. The chip manufacturer's NVIDIA shares have fallen 17 %, and the large -scale power plant, Contellation Energy, has closed more than 20 %.
“There is always a possibility that the market will surprise you,” said Worth. However, he added that it would protect Chevron because the growth of electricity demand has not reached its current expectation, as early as the market has been reduced to the market.
His company is almost alone.
Many power producers are expanding, especially in natural gas generation capabilities. Constellation, which has a large number of nuclear power plants, agreed to purchase rival Calpin, which owns many natural gas factories, for $ 16.4 billion. And last week, Nextera Energy stated that it is planning to build more gas fuel power plants.
Expectations are very different on how fast US power demand is and how fast it will rise. Obviously, data centers are more likely to consume more countries than today. Recent research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Institute is estimated that facilities use up to 12 % of US power from 4.4 % in 2023 to 2028.
Chevron and Engine No. 1 have reserved seven gas turbines from Ge Ververnova, one of the companies created by the Gener Electric division. This device has been set to be delivered from 2026. The Chevron and the No. 1 engine will spend a lot of money, discussing with future customers, and hopes to increase the ability to generate up to 4 gigawatts.
Morgan Stanley has recently estimated that a natural gas thermal power plant costs about $ 2 billion per Gigaat.
In this case, the plants are placed alongside the data center that supplies power. Like EXXON, plants will operate more quickly, as the facilities are expected to be connected to the electric grid and will not start. It may take years for a grid manager to approve the connection request.
But ultimately, they aim to secure a grid connection, Chris James, the highest investment in the engine of the engine. “The grid interconnection will allow power to be supplied to the grid as needed,” he said.
Technology giants such as Microsoft and Google have set goals for all energy from sources that do not contribute to climate change after considering carbon capture and other technologies. However, some high -tech companies are struggling to acquire all the power in the next few years. When burned without relying on natural gas, it produces carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gas is the main cause of climate change.
“I have noticed that the valley may be worse if many people strolled and rely on gas,” said Jesse Noffsinger, a consulting company McKinsey & Company's partner.
Chevron and Engine No. 1 said they could build their plants in several areas. They excluded the East Coast for the restrictions on infrastructure and the potential feedback from customers.
The company also searched for the site According to James, it can be used for captures and isolation carbon dioxide emissions.
However, companies do not plan to incorporate their technology or renewable energy first.
“I am very convinced that some of these other options are part of these options because the policy environment is proceeding with technology development steadily,” he said. He said.
