IT Ministry to prepare roadmap for power supply to AI data centres

The IT ministry is in discussions with the ministries of power, and new and renewable energy, and other related agencies to prepare a roadmap to ensure that the growing numbers of data centres in India - a function of the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom - are offered enough power supply, a top government official said Monday.

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"Today, the biggest question is the availability of power... As we adopt Al more and more, (the question is) do we have enough power supply to power that — otherwise, where do you make sure that this power supply comes up in a way that we are able to address this issue," said IT Secretary S Krishnan.

His comments are significant given the massive energy requirement of data centres that big technology companies are building around the world, owing to the spectacular popularity of Al solutions, which rely on such facilities for computing power. As per the International Energy Agency, data centre electricity usage could double by 2026, making the challenge for companies to become net zero or carbon negative by 2030 increasingly unattainable. This has forced companies like Google and Microsoft - who have big stakes in the Al game - signing deals with nuclear power plants to purchase energy for their data centres.