{"id":445444,"date":"2026-08-27T20:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/445444\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:46:07","slug":"niestroj-we-need-smarter-ai-data-center-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/445444\/","title":{"rendered":"Niestroj: We need smarter AI data center development"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI data center\u00a0backlash<\/a>\u00a0is growing, fueled by community concerns about\u00a0local grids, electricity prices, water use and the environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, AI technology is being integrated into every industry imaginable, which drives more AI data center demand. According to one recent real estate investment\u00a0report<\/a>, \u201cnearly 100 gigawatts of new data centers will be added between 2026 and 2030, doubling global capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no putting the AI genie back in the bottle. That doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t be smarter about how we make the magic.<\/p>\n

Proactive preparedness<\/p>\n

Big tech is projected<\/a> \u201cto spend about $750 billion this year on data centers, chips and other AI infrastructure, up from roughly $400 billion last year,\u201d accelerating the build-out boom. Silicon Valley is ground zero for tech development, so it is no surprise that there are a dozen-plus new data center projects<\/a>\u00a0taking shape in Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n

Leaders here are also well-aware that AI data center growth creates a power-delivery bottleneck impacting local grid function, so many are being proactive. PG&E and San Jose have already struck a deal for major grid improvements, with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan noting the economic imperative<\/a>: \u201cThe demand for data centers is significant because cutting-edge, low-latency computing capacity could help draw R&D labs that want to be as close to those data centers as possible,\u201d adding they could help maintain our competitive edge in the AI race.<\/p>\n

Where new AI data centers are being developed, local grids can be further protected with the installation of\u00a0more resilient and elastic energy supply<\/a> for load balancing, as opposed to simply tapping into and overburdening the local utility\u2019s existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

A significant share of power for highly dynamic AI load profiles needs to be routed through batteries and supercapacitors to reduce impact on the grid, and the installation of that energy storage as close to the servers as possible avoids costly copper wiring and transfer losses.<\/p>\n

Valid NIMBY concerns<\/p>\n

But simply ramping up traditional battery and supercapacitor production and installing more battery energy storage systems for AI data centers does not address all of the negatives for communities, such as sustainability issues surrounding cooling requirements and water use, or the risk of thermal runaway events in battery packs resulting in rare but devastating fires like last year\u2019s Moss Landing disaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each of these issues should be addressed thoughtfully for data center buildout efforts to turn a rising tide of resistance<\/a>, gain\u00a0community support<\/a> and succeed at the necessary scale in San Jose and everywhere else. Many of them can be directly mitigated by simply changing the way energy storage is manufactured. For example, with dry processes that produce inherently safe batteries and supercapacitors tailored for rack integration close to the server, with higher pack energy density, lower resistance and lower heat generation \u2014 which means less need for cooling and water use.<\/p>\n

It may surprise some to learn all of this is possible without inventing new chemistries or solid-state breakthroughs. We just have to demand it.<\/p>\n

Build fast vs. build to last<\/p>\n

AI technology may be a revolutionary innovation, but growth requires constructing data centers and energy systems that are different from what we already have. That rightfully raises\u00a0plenty of questions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nobody wants you to \u201cbuild fast and break things\u201d in\u00a0their backyard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is perfectly reasonable for communities to require transparency, due diligence and even some revolutionary innovation in local data center development and its energy architecture, ensuring that what\u2019s built in their neighborhoods is safe, sustainable and cost-effective, right now and\u00a0far into the future.<\/p>\n

Arwed Niestroj is president and COO of San Jose-based Sakuu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI data center\u00a0backlash\u00a0is growing, fueled by community concerns about\u00a0local grids, electricity prices, water use and the environment. Meanwhile,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-445444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}