With global power demand from data centers expected to more than double by 2030, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) launched an effort in September to bring together MIT researchers and industry experts to explore innovative solutions that power a data-driven future. At its annual research conference, MITEI announced the Data Center Power Forum, a research initiative aimed at MITEI member companies interested in addressing data center power demand challenges. The Data Center Power Forum builds on lessons learned from the May 2025 MITEI Symposium on Energy Driving the Expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and will focus on data center-related panels at the Fall 2024 research conference.
In the United States, data centers will consume 4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023, and demand is expected to rise to 9% by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Much of the increase in demand is due to the increased use of AI, putting an unprecedented strain on the power grid. This surge in demand poses serious challenges to the technology and energy sectors, government policy makers, and consumers who may see higher electricity bills as a result.
“MITEI has long supported research into how to generate more efficient, cleaner energy and manage the power grid. In recent years, MITEI has also funded dozens of research projects related to data center energy issues. Building on this history and knowledge base, MITEI MITEI’s Data Center Power Forum convenes an expert community of industry members with a critical stake in accelerating the sustainable growth of AI and solutions for powering data centers and extending the grid.” said MITEI Director William H. Green. and the Hoyt C. Hotell Professor of Chemical Engineering.
MITI’s mission is to advance zero and low-carbon solutions to expand energy access and mitigate climate change. MITEI works with companies across the energy innovation chain, including infrastructure, automotive, power, energy, natural resources and insurance sectors. Green said MITEI member companies have shown strong interest in the Data Center Power Forum and are committed to supporting focused research on the wide range of energy issues associated with data center expansion.
MITI’s Data Center Power Forum provides members with authoritative insights into energy supply, grid load operations and management, the built environment, and data center power market design and regulatory policy. This forum complements MIT’s deep expertise in related topics such as low-power processors, efficient algorithms, task-specific AI, photonic devices, quantum computing, and the social impact of data center expansion. As part of the forum, MITI’s Center for Future Energy Systems is funding projects related to data center energy in upcoming proposal cycles. MITEI researcher Deep Deka has been appointed as the forum’s program manager.
“Finding ways to meet data center power demands is a complex challenge. Our research approaches this problem from multiple directions, from looking at how to expand transmission capacity in the power grid to get power where it’s needed, to ensuring the quality of power service to existing users is not degraded when new data centers come online, to moving computing tasks to times and places where energy is available on the power grid,” said Deka.
MITI currently sponsors important research related to data center energy topics across multiple departments at MIT. The existing research portfolio includes more than a dozen projects related to data centers, including low- or zero-carbon solutions for energy supply and infrastructure, grid management, and power market policy. MIT researchers, funded through the MITEI industry consortium, are also designing more energy-efficient power electronics and processors, and investigating low- and no-carbon power plants and energy storage behind the meter. MITEI-backed experts are researching how to use AI to optimize power distribution and data center location, and conducting techno-economic analyzes of data center power schemes. MITEI’s consortium project brings new perspectives to the data center cooling challenge and considers policy approaches to balance shareholder interests.
The Data Center Power Forum brings together industry players from across the AI and Grid value chain to enable richer conversations about solutions to power, grid, and carbon management problems in a non-profit, collaborative environment.
“The opportunity to meet and discuss key data center challenges with MIT faculty and research scientists, as well as other forum members from a variety of disciplines, is a unique benefit of this MITEI-led initiative,” Green said.
At its Fall 2024 Annual Research Conference, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry addressed the issue of data center power demand with internal members in a panel session titled “The ultimate challenge of powering data centers in a decarbonized manner.” Randall Field, MITEI’s director of research, led a discussion with representatives from tech giants Google and Microsoft, known as “hyperscalers,” as well as Madrid-based infrastructure developer Ferrovial SE and utility company Exelon. Another conference session covered the related theme of “Energy Storage and Grid Expansion.” This spring, MITEI focused its annual Spring Symposium on data centers, featuring faculty and researchers from MIT and other universities, business leaders, and representatives from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a full day of sessions on the topic “AI and Energy: Risks and Promises.”
