Silicon Valley Power, the municipally owned utility of the City of Santa Clara, Calif., and Emerald AI on April 21 announced a pilot program to demonstrate how flexible data centers can help support grid reliability, affordability, and more efficient system planning as advanced digital infrastructure continues to grow in Silicon Valley.
Flexible data centers can adjust power consumption in response to grid conditions without disrupting critical AI workloads.
Under the pilot, Emerald AI will work with major SVP customers to demonstrate data center flexibility using the Emerald AI Conductor platform. SVP will also deploy Emerald AI software to help manage and dispatch participating flexible data centers during limited periods of grid need.
The pilot will evaluate how flexible operations can help safeguard reliability, make more efficient use of existing infrastructure, and inform planning for bringing forward phased energization as data center load ramps on the SVP system.
The first pilot site will operate at a commercial, multi-megawatt scale at a data center where NVIDIA runs cutting-edge AI workloads on advanced GPUs. By utilizing Emerald AI’s software, tightly integrated with NVIDIA DSX Flex capability, the data center will precisely respond to SVP signals to support the grid during periods of peak load, while protecting AI workload performance.
By proving that advanced computing facilities can dynamically adjust their power usage, the pilot aims to unlock additional capacity across SVP’s network.
"Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara has long been a leader in attracting advanced data centers and supporting the innovative economy. This collaboration reflects SVP’s commitment to meeting the needs of a fast-evolving AI and digital infrastructure landscape while maintaining reliable, affordable electric service for the community," SVP noted.
“Santa Clara is at the center of the next wave of AI and digital infrastructure investment, and Silicon Valley Power is committed to supporting that growth responsibly,” said Nico Procos, Electric Utility Director of Silicon Valley Power. “This pilot will help us evaluate practical tools to protect reliability and affordability for our customers while supporting flexible, efficient planning for future load growth. I want to acknowledge our partners, Emerald AI and NVIDIA, and also the staff at SVP for their innovative thinking, led by our Chief Operating Officer, Chris Karwick.”
“Santa Clara continues to lead in innovation, and this joint effort demonstrates how we can turn that momentum into real results for our community,” said Jovan Grogan, City of Santa Clara City Manager. “We look forward to the results of this Pilot which should help strengthen our power system for the future.”
“Data centers can be more than static electric loads - they can become active partners to the grid,” said Varun Sivaram, founder and CEO of Emerald AI. “We are proud to work with Silicon Valley Power and its customers to demonstrate precise, utility-directed flexibility that data centers can provide in order to better utilize the power system while ensuring they can continue their valuable computing activities.”
“As AI scales in Silicon Valley and beyond, the demand for power presents an opportunity for data centers and the grid to become partners,” said Josh Parker, Head of Sustainability at NVIDIA. “This pilot, powered by NVIDIA DSX Flex, proves that grid-responsive AI factories can unlock additional power capacity without sacrificing performance, improving grid efficiency and demonstrating that sustainable AI growth and reliability go hand in hand."
Emerald AI has recently announced major milestones across the AI and energy sectors, including its integration with NVIDIA DSX Flex and collaborations with NVIDIA and leading energy companies to advance a new class of flexible AI factories.
Over the last year, Emerald AI and NVIDIA have also completed five live demonstrations at commercial data centers around the world showing how advanced computing workloads can respond to grid and utility conditions while preserving performance for priority applications.
The SVP-Emerald AI pilot is designed to demonstrate how innovation in Santa Clara can help support both economic growth and a reliable, affordable power system.
