Biden Orders Energy, Defense Departments to Lease Sites for AI Data Centers

President Biden on Tuesday (January 14) signed an executive order to accelerate the development of data centers to enable artificial intelligence, while also ensuring the new facilities are powered by emissions-free electricity.

The order directs the US Department of Defense and US Department of Energy to lease sites for gigawatt-scale AI data centers and power generation facilities, and “to facilitate this infrastructure’s interconnection to the electric grid, fulfill permitting obligations expeditiously, and advance transmission development around federal sites.”

Growth of AI could lead data centers to consume 9% of the United States’ electricity by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Biden’s executive order, however, gives more subsidies to big tech companies while sending consumer power bills higher, one clean energy advocate warned.

Keep reading this article in Utility Dive, a Data Center Knowledge partner site