When it was announced earlier this year that two new Amazon Web Services hyperscale data centers in Madison County had received approval, the concern among some was the increased power consumption on Entergy Corporation’s power grid.
Haley Fisackerly, CEO of Entergy Mississippi, said at the time that while he can’t say exactly how much the increase in power consumption will be for his company, it will be “significant.”
Fisackerly has said that a large part of the energy mix will come from green energy. But much of the work that led to the AWS announcement was done in the years before the announcement.
An industry expert told the Clarion Ledger that demand for Entergy will increase by as much as a third “when the switch is flipped.”
However, on Monday, Amazon Web Services announced new components for its data centers designed to support AI innovation and reduce demand for energy needs.
This includes innovations in power, cooling and hardware design, all of which create a more energy-efficient data center that will drive customer innovation.
These new capabilities will be deployed globally in AWS’s new data centers, including Mississippi, and many components are already deployed in existing AWS data centers.
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What is Amazon doing to reduce energy needs?
There are three main areas that AWS implements:
1. Simplified electrical and mechanical design for high availability.
AWS says it has simplified electricity distribution, reducing the number of potential points of failure by 20%. Other examples of simplifications include bringing backup power closer and reducing the number of fans used to remove warm air. It uses the natural pressure difference to remove warm air, improving the amount of electricity available to servers, according to AWS.
2. Innovations in cooling, rack design and operating systems.
Newer AI servers will benefit from liquid cooling to cool high-density computer chips more efficiently. It will also provide more support for high-density AI workloads. This will be achieved through software, powered by data and generative AI, that predicts the most efficient way to provision servers.
An Amazon Web Services (AWS) logo is pictured during a trade show at the Hannover Messe, in Hannover, Germany, April 22, 2024
3. Increased energy efficiency and sustainability, including 46% reduction in mechanical energy consumption and 35% reduction in embedded carbon in the concrete used
In 2023, Amazon achieved its goal of powering all electricity used by its operations with 100% renewable energy – seven years ahead of its 2030 goal.
“Data centers must evolve to meet the transformative demands of AI,” Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale at AI company NVIDIA, said in a statement. “By enabling advanced liquid cooling solutions, AI infrastructure can be efficiently cooled while minimizing energy consumption. Our work with AWS on the design of their liquid cooling racks enables customers to run demanding AI workloads with exceptional performance and efficiency.”
The Mississippi project represents the largest corporate capital investment in the state’s history. Amazon Web Services will build two sites, one of 927 hectares and the other of 786 hectares for the two hyperscale data centers.
The ability to better regulate energy use with the new technology is important for both Mississippians and Entergy itself.
Fisackerly previously told the Clarion Ledger that he could not directly comment on how much load the data centers will use.
“Because that relates to a customer’s usage, I can’t say what that amount is,” Fisackerly said. “But I can say this will be the largest customer for Entergy Mississippi and for the Entergy system (overall).”
Kerry Person, vice president of data center planning and delivery for AWS, told the Clarion Ledger on Monday that the new technology is important for Mississippi and other projects the company has.
“As more customers migrate to the cloud and integrate AI into their businesses, we will continue to innovate to meet that demand,” Person said. “We strive to continuously optimize the design and operation of our data centers worldwide to enable innovation and increase energy efficiency. Many of these new technologies can be immediately deployed in data centers under construction, integrated into new building designs and even retrofitted into existing facilities.”
Ross Reily is a staff writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Amazon technology could save energy at MS data centers in Madison County
