Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, talks to a company event on April 30, 2024 on artificial intelligence technologies in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Dimas Ardian | Bloomberg | Getty pictures
Houston – Microsoft The vice president of the technology company is open to the use of natural gas with carbon capture technology in order to operate artificial intelligence data centers.
“That wouldn't be off the table,” said Bobby Hollis. However, the manager said that Microsoft would only consider natural gas if the project is “commercially sustainable and competitive”.
Oil and gas companies have been developing the Carbon Capture technology for years, but the industry has difficulty starting them due to the high costs with such projects. The technology records the carbon dioxide emissions of industrial areas and stores it deep underground.
Microsoft has ambitious goals to address the climate in order to coordinate the entire electricity consumption with carbon -free energy by 2030. The technology company has procured more than 30 gigawatts of renewable power when pursuing this goal. However, the tech sector has come to the conclusion that renewable energies alone are not sufficient to attract the demanding electricity needs of data centers.
Microsoft turned to nuclear power last year and signed a contract to support the restart of Three Mile Island by an agreement to buy electricity from the currently closed work. However, it is unlikely that the United States will build up a considerable amount of additional unclear electricity until the 2030s.
Despite carbon dioxide emissions, developers of data centers are increasingly seeing as a short -term performance solution. The Trump administration focuses on increasing natural gas production. Energy Minister Chris Wright said on Monday that renewable power supply could not replace the role of gas when generating electricity.
“We have always been aware that Fossil does not disappear as quickly as we would all hope,” said Hollis. “However, we knew that natural gas is the short-term solution we see, especially for AI inserts.”
Exxon Mobil and Chevron announced in December last December that they would enter the data center area to develop natural gas systems with carbon capture technology. Chevron met an agreement with the gas turbine manufacturer GE Vernova in the construction of gas systems for data centers “with the flexibility to integrate the carbon capture and storage technology.
Hollis declined to say whether Microsoft had talks with the oil majors. The executive said that the technology company had “discussions with all these technologies across the board”.
President Donald Trump informed the World Economic Forum in January that he would use emergency powers to accelerate the construction of power plants for data centers. Trump said the data centers can use the desired fuel. Chevron and GE Vernova announced their plan to build days after Trump's statements for data centers.
“We are only happy to see that there is a focus on the acceleration of schedules to fulfill what we see as a fairly critical need,” said Hollis when he was asked about the plans of the Trump government.
However, the use of natural gas faces its own challenges. The cost of new natural gas systems has tripled and the line for the construction of plants now extends until 2030, said John Ketchum, CEO of Nexttera, on Monday. Nextera is the largest developer of renewable energies in the United States, but also has gas assets.
“Renewable energies are now ready to go because they were in operation,” said Ketchum at the conference. “It is cheaper and it is currently available unless you already have a turbine for ordering or that is already allowed.”
Ketchum said Nuclear was likely to be a performance solution by 2035. Nextera is considering restarting Duane Arnold's nuclear power plant in Iowa.