Data centers can be good citizens. It’s why we’re partnering with Google and Nvidia to create the AI Energy Management Alliance

Two years ago, I asked the president of one of America’s largest public power utilities what worried him about the data centers lining up to connect to the grid.

Each wanted the same thing, he replied: electricity delivered immediately, on an expensive grid overbuilt to guarantee power around the clock.

He remarked that utilities and communities were asked to serve as “foot soldiers” of the AI buildout.

The data centers, I thought, could serve as foot soldiers in their own way.

I founded Emerald AI after that conversation to enable data centers to support the grid and their local communities, easing power use in the rare hours when the grid is stressed while protecting the performance of critical AI work.

By flexibly consuming energy, AI data centers could become good citizens of the power grid, protecting energy affordability and reducing the risk of blackouts for communities.

What’s more, America can connect flexible AI data centers much more quickly to the power grid, advancing U.S. competitiveness with China in AI frontier innovation.

That’s why today, my company, along with Google and NVIDIA, is founding the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA), which launches with 18 member companies who lead the AI and energy industries.

These include the AI frontier lab Anthropic, the utility National Grid , and power producers AES and NRG.

The premise is that if data centers change how they operate to support the communities that host them, they should be rewarded with faster access to power.

The benefits of flexible data centers start with affordability.

Electricity bills have risen nationwide, and residents are anxious about whether surging AI demand could raise rates further by triggering expensive grid upgrades.

But flexible data centers that are good grid citizens spare the peak demand moments that force the costliest upgrades, better using the grid we already have.

The Brattle Group estimates that each 10 percent gain in utilization lowers rates by about 3.4 percent.