“AI is one of the most powerful forces shaping the world today. It is not a clever app or a single model; it is essential infrastructure, like electricity and the internet.” - Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO, NVIDIA
Placing artificial intelligence on par with electricity may be a step too far — much of modern society, including AI, doesn’t operate without it. Yet, there is no denying that AI is a singular focus of massive infrastructure investments occurring across the U.S. and the world. And AI is playing an increasing role in power supply planning and operations, rate design, and system maintenance. It presents new tools and new risks for utilities to manage, from how they handle customer service to analyzing system performance and forecasting usage to cybersecurity and beyond.
Huang further described AI as a “five-layer cake,” with energy serving as the foundational layer that will ultimately determine how much AI will produce. Public power communities now serve some of the largest data centers on earth, providing the power that is driving state-of-the-art technology forward in a global competition that impacts not only our economy, but also our national security.
Certainly, these large new loads do not fit every community. Locally governed public power utilities can evaluate whether a large facility is a match for a community and its priorities, and whether there is mutual benefit. In the federal policy realm, we are noting to policymakers and regulators that one-size-fits-all policies on data center interconnection, cost allocation, and rates generally do not work for the thousands of diverse public power communities across the country.
APPA has advocated strongly that data centers should not harm grid reliability nor affordability for existing customers. What is called for is smarter, technology-neutral permitting reform; flexibility for locally governed utilities in issuing longer-term contracts; and protections for existing customers against unfair cost shifts.
This issue of Public Power explores both the functional side of considerations for using AI in your utility — including how public power utilities are using various AI tools, supporting staff readiness and adoption, and creating policies that support secure and ethical use — as well as how public power is working with data center developers and preparing their communities for the associated load growth.
Whether your utility or community approaches AI and data centers with guarded caution or open arms, APPA is here to support and connect public power in this time of major change. We want to hear how you are using AI and what insights you have learned, how you are preparing for or working with new large load customers, and what resources will help you do so more effectively. In addition to having these conversations at our events and trainings (including a Large Load Virtual Summit in November), we are launching a new APPA Engage group on AI — look for it on APPA Engage or let us know if you’d like to join.
