The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) was established in September to bring together industry professionals and MIT academics to investigate creative solutions for powering the data-driven future, given that the worldwide power consumption from data centers is predicted to more than double by 2030. The Data Center Power Forum, a focused research initiative for MITEI member firms interested in tackling the issues of data center power demand, was unveiled by MITEI during its annual research conference. MITEI’s May 2025 symposium on the energy needed to support the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and data center-related focus panels at the fall 2024 research conference served as a foundation for the Data Center support Forum.
According to the Electric Power Research Institute, data centers in the US used 4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023, and by 2030, that percentage is predicted to rise to 9%. The growing usage of AI is largely responsible for the demand growth, which is putting an unprecedented burden on the electrical system. The technology and energy industries, government policymakers, and regular consumers face a significant issue as a result of this spike in demand, which might cause their electric costs to soar.
“MITEI has long backed research on methods to regulate the electric grid and generate greener, more efficient energy. Numerous studies pertaining to data center energy challenges have also received funding from MITEI in recent years. William H. Green, director of MITEI and the Hoyt C. Hottel Professor of Chemical Engineering, says, “Building on this history and knowledge base, MITEI’s Data Center Power Forum is bringing together a specialized community of industry members who have a vital stake in the sustainable growth of AI and the acceleration of solutions for powering data centers and expanding the grid.”
The goal of MITEI is to promote low- and zero-carbon solutions in order to increase energy access and slow down global warming. Companies in the infrastructure, automotive, electric power, energy, natural resources, and insurance sectors are among those with which MITEI collaborates along the energy innovation chain. According to Green, MITEI member businesses have shown a great deal of interest in the Data Center Power Forum and have pledged to fund targeted studies on a variety of energy-related topics related to data center growth.
Reliable information on energy supply, grid load operations and management, the built environment, electricity market design, and data center regulations will be made available to member organizations through MITEI’s Data Center Power Forum. The forum enhances MIT’s extensive knowledge of related subjects like task-specific AI, efficient algorithms, low-power CPUs, photonic devices, quantum computing, and the social effects of data center growth. In its next proposal cycles, MITEI’s Future Energy Systems Center is providing funding for data center energy-related projects as part of the forum. Deep Deka, a research scientist at MITEI, has been appointed as the forum’s program manager.
“Determining how to satisfy data centers’ power requirements is a difficult task. Our research is approaching this from a number of angles, including examining methods to increase the electrical grid’s transmission capacity to deliver power to areas that require it, making sure that the quality of electrical service for current users is not compromised by the addition of new data centers, and relocating computing tasks to locations and times when the grid has energy available,” Deka said.
Several MIT departments now receive significant funding from MITEI for data center energy-related research. More than a dozen data center-related initiatives are currently part of the research portfolio. These projects include electricity market regulation, electrical grid management, and low- or zero-carbon energy supply and infrastructure solutions. In addition, MIT researchers supported by MITEI’s industrial collaboration are researching energy storage and behind-the-meter low- or no-carbon power plants, as well as building more energy-efficient power electronics and computers. Experts backed by MITEI are researching the use of AI to optimize data center location and electrical distribution, as well as doing techno-economic assessments of data center power schemes. Additionally, MITEI’s consortium projects are examining policy methods to balance shareholder interests and offering new insights into data center cooling concerns.
The Data Center Power Forum facilitates a more comprehensive discussion about solutions to power, grid, and carbon management issues in a collaborative and noncommercial environment by bringing together industry players from all points along the AI and grid value chain.
One special advantage of this MITEI-led initiative, according to Green, is the chance to interact and have conversations about important data center issues with faculty and research scientists from MIT as well as other forum participants from various industries.
During its fall 2024 Annual Research Conference, MITEI held a panel discussion titled “The extreme challenge of powering data centers in a decarbonized way” to discuss data center power requirements with its members. MITEI Director of Research Randall Field hosted a conversation with “hyperscalers,” or representatives of major tech firms like Google and Microsoft, as well as infrastructure developer Ferrovial S.E., based in Madrid, and utility giant Exelon Corp. The related subject of “Energy storage and grid expansion” was covered in another conference session. Data centers were the focus of MITEI’s annual Spring Symposium this past spring, which brought together researchers and faculty from MIT and other universities, business executives, and a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission representative for a full day of sessions on the subject of “AI and energy: Peril and promise.”