With less than a week left in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to accelerate and scale up AI deployments, notably large data centers and new clean power infrastructure.
Building AI infrastructure in the United States is important for national security and economic competitiveness, but building out the grid and generation to support it is time-consuming and costly.
“We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water,” reads the White House press release.
The order would direct the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) to lease federal sites where the private sector can build gigawatt-scale AI data centers “at speed and scale.”
The best sites would have accessibility to high-capacity transmission infrastructure, with minimal adverse effects on communities, the natural environment and commercial resources.
Developers selected to build at DOE and DOD sites would be required to bring online sufficient clean energy generation resources to match the full electricity needs of their data centers.
The White House said accountability measures for AI developers working on federal sites would require them to:
- Cover the full costs of AI infrastructure, including data centers, clean energy facilities, and transmission upgrades.
- Secure clean energy resources matching their data center needs to stabilize electricity prices and support U.S. energy leadership.
- Enhance lab security and assess AI models for safety, security risks, and national security potential.
- Maintain high labor standards, foster positive labor relations, and pay prevailing wages.
- Purchase domestically manufactured semiconductors to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.
To support these buildout efforts, the Department of Interior would identify lands it manages that are suitable for clean energy that could support data centers on DOE and DOD sites, while enhancing permitting processes for geothermal projects. Agencies would prioritize staff to expedite permitting, and the DOD would conduct environmental analyses to streamline future site reviews.
Further, DOE would work to promote distributed energy resources, advance siting of clean generation resources at existing points of interconnection and support the safe and responsible deployment of nuclear energy.
Accelerating transmission and interconnection
The most notable obstacle to building new clean energy projects and large loads like data centers is building transmission.
To support AI infrastructure on federal sites, DOE plans to coordinate with developers to accelerate transmission development, including constructing and upgrading lines, collecting congestion data and improving planning.
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The DOD, DOE and Department of Commerce would back producers of critical grid components, explore equipment reserves and consider loan-guarantee programs.
Additionally, DOE would work with utilities to expedite interconnection through grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) and operational improvements, while identifying underutilized interconnection points and approved but unbuilt clean energy projects.
Originally published in Power Engineering.
