Bosses at artificial intelligence companies aren’t worried about the end of the world or the start of government regulations. Their biggest worry is more mundane: finding enough electricity to keep servers running at data centers.
That, coupled with growing purchases of electric cars and heat pumps, is creating skyrocketing demand after decades of stagnant or shrinking growth in Europe and the US.
The biggest bottleneck for utilities to meet that demand isn’t necessarily generating power but delivering it. Building out the grid further is a costly and time-consuming endeavor. That provides an opportunity for startups to develop and deploy grid-enhancing technologies, including pumping more power through cables.
Massachusetts-based Veir, Inc. is betting that superconducting wires will be an answer to utilities’ and data center operators’ problems, and it’s preparing for the first large-scale deployment of its technology.
The startup wants to replace sagging metal cables typically strung between pylons or poles with similar-sized black pipes. Inside, there won’t be a tangle of metal wires but superconducting tapes — made of a special material that carries electricity without losses — surrounded by liquid nitrogen at -196C (-321F). Veir claims the tech upgrade allows cables to carry 10 times as much electricity as similar-sized aluminum cables.
Veir’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Heidel believes the company has found the solution: Instead of relying on compressors, the company utilizes the same phenomenon that cools our body through sweating.
As sweat evaporates, it absorbs heat from the skin, lowering the body’s temperature. Similarly, Veir has built a trash-can sized device that is installed every few kilometers where some of the nitrogen from the pipe is allowed to evaporate and, in the process, re-cool the pipe. The lost nitrogen needs to be topped up, but equipment to do so can be placed at both ends of the long cable.
“The pace at which data centers are being built and expanding and the urgency of being able to serve higher density and higher power loads is extremely high right now,” said Heidel. “And so there seems to be quite a bit of interest.”
But Veir’s bet that utilities will pay a premium for cables that carry 10 times more power might not pay off. The company won’t give precise numbers, though Veir says initially it can be competitive with some of the most expensive power cable projects, which can cost more than $10 million per mile.
It may remain a “niche” application, said Peter Wall, grids lead at BloombergNEF. Utilities may say “we don't want to use it, but we'll eat the cost because it gets us something nothing else can.”
If superconducting cables prove too expensive, California-based TS Conductor offers cables that have carbon fiber cores that are able to carry a lot more aluminum without breaking and increase the power capacity of cables three-fold. An even cheaper option is to use “dynamic line rating” that relies on sensors rather than new cables.
For example, Massachusetts-based LineVision’s sensors provide real-time data on windspeeds and cable sag, which tells utilities when a cable is cool and able to carry more power. Without live information, sending more power through the cable can cause it to heat up so much that it sags and breaks, or worse, causes a fire.
LineVision has raised $50 million, including some from the same investors like Microsoft and National Grid. The startup is busy deploying the technologies at commercial scale. For a project in the UK, LineVision installed 11 sensors across a 35-kilometer section of the grid that National Grid says saved it £14 million ($17.5 million) in 2022 alone by increasing power capacity by 19%.
LineVision now has projects in eight countries. “We’re not looking to raise more money and believe we’re on the pathway to profitability,” said Jonathan Marmillo, the company’s chief product officer.
Whether AI’s energy demand forecasts turn out to be real or not, it’s clear that utilities need to adapt to a changing landscape. With the rise of cheap renewables, energy storage and grid-enhancing technologies, “more than any other commodity provider, utilities have been forced to deploy new technologies,” said Mark Daly, head of innovation and technology at BNEF.
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