> In an October letter to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recommended that the US add 100 gigawatts in energy capacity every year.

> Krishna also referenced the depreciation of the AI chips inside data centers as another factor: "You've got to use it all in five years because at that point, you've got to throw it away and refill it," he said.

And people think the climate concerns of AI are overblown. Currently US has ~1300 GW of energy capacity. That's a huge increase each year.

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throwaway31131 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

100GW per year is not going to happen.

The largest plant in the world is the Three Gorges Dam in China at 22GW and it’s off the scales huge. We’re not building the equivalent of four of those every year.

Unless the plan is to power it off Sam Altman’s hot air. That could work. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_power_stations

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snake_doc 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

China added ~90GW of utility solar per year in last 2 years. There's ~400-500GW solar+wind under construction there.

It is possible, just may be not in the U.S.

Note: given renewables can't provide base load, capacity factor is 10-30% (lower for solar, higher for wind), so actual energy generation will vary...

	▲	kelnos an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> It is possible Sure, GP was clearly talking about the US, specifically. > just may be not in the U.S. Absolutely 100% not possible in the US. And even if we could do it, I'm not convinced it would be prudent.

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baq 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

New datacenters are being planned next to natgas hubs for a reason. They’re being designed with on site gas turbines as primary electricity sources.

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bpicolo 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Amazing that 4 of the top 5 are renewables in China.

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mrexroad 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> As of 2025, The Medog Dam, currently under construction on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Mêdog County, China, expected to be completed by 2033, is planned to have a capacity of 60 GW, three times that of the Three Gorges Dam.[3]

Meanwhile, “drill baby drill!”

	▲	nrhrjrjrjtntbt 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Can run the UK and have capacity left over that, if considered alone, would be worlds highest in current year 2025.

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tempest_ 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not really that surprising.

Authoritarianism has its draw backs obviously but one of its more efficient points is it can get things done if the will is at the top. Since China doesnt have a large domestic oil supply like the US it is a state security issue to get off oil as fast as possible.

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octoberfranklin 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Gigawatts? Pshaw. We have SamaWatts.

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ryandrake 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

LOL, maybe Sam Altman can fund those power plants. Let me guess: He'd rather the public pay for it, and for him to benefit/profit from the increased capacity.

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intrasight 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Big tech is going to have to fund the plants and probably transmission. Because the energy utilities have a decades long planning horizon for investments.

Good discussion about this in recent Odd Lots podcast.

	▲	kelnos an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I've read a bunch of the opposite: a lot of secret deals between tech companies and utilities, where when details come out, we find that regular ratepayers are going to be paying a decent chunk of the cost.

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coliveira 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Scam Altman wants the US to build a lot of energy plants so that the country will pay the costs and OpenAI will have the profits of using this cheap energy.

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jamesbelchamber 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If we moron our way to large-scale nuclear and renewable energy rollout however..

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mywittyname 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I highly doubt this will happen. It will be natural gas all the way, maybe some coal as energy prices will finally make it profitable again.

	▲	emodendroket 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If for no other reason than they're actively attacking renewable capacity even amid surging demand

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venturecruelty 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Guess who's going to pay nothing for power? Hint: it's not you, and it's not me.

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mrguyorama 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This admin has already killed as much solar and wind and battery as it can.

The only large scale rollout will be payment platforms that will allow you to split your energy costs into "Five easy payments"

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tehjoker 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There's a reason Trump is talking about invading Venezuela (hint: it's because they have the largest oil deposits).