Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2025: Power Chat

Data Center Frontier Editor in Chief Matt Vincent and Contributing Editor Bill Kleyman (CEO/Apolo) recently had another video chat to discuss the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2025 and, in particular, the event's focus on data center power. The second annual Trends Summit is scheduled for August 26-28 in Reston, Virginia.

This second QuickChat in our series—following the opening discussion that set the stage for the conference—now zeroes in on data center power challenges. The conversation explores how AI’s exponential growth is straining power infrastructure, turning energy into both a critical market-entry barrier and a defining theme of the event.

The Power Challenge: Quantifying the Scale

Kleyman outlined the sheer scale of the power challenge facing the industry. He cited a Goldman Sachs report projecting that U.S. data center power consumption, currently around 2-3% of total consumption, could more than double to 8-9% by 2028. He also highlighted a forecast that the data center industry will require upwards of 50 gigawatts (GW) of power by 2035, a figure he put into perspective by noting that 1 GW can power a city of a million people.

The discussion mentions a few large-scale projects that illustrate this trend:

Kevin O'Leary's Wonder Valley project in Alberta, Canada, aiming for 8 GW.
Tract's new multi-gigawatt campus project in Texas amid plans for a staggering 25 GW national build-out.
Kleyman also referenced the NVL576 rack unveiled at Nvidia GTC 2025, which is capable of supporting 600 kilowatts (kW) per rack, signaling the official arrival of the "megawatt era class of data center racks."

Grid-Optional Solutions and the Summit Panels

The discussion transitioned to how the industry is moving from being solely grid-reliant to "grid-optional." A significant trend highlighted is the inclusion of behind-the-meter power generation in new builds, with 30% of new U.S. data centers in 2024 reportedly incorporating such solutions. This includes natural gas generation, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), and hydrogen fuel cells.

The editors detailed two key power-focused panels at the upcoming summit:

"Bridging the Data Center Power Gap": This panel, moderated by Loudoun County's Buddy Rizer, will feature representatives from major power companies like Dominion Power, Constellation, and American Electric Power alongside operator QTS Data Centers. The goal is to explore how to streamline the energy supply chain and address the mismatch between power delivery timelines and data center construction schedules.
"From Grid to On-Site Powering": This session will focus on optimizing behind-the-meter energy. It will feature a diverse group of experts, including representatives from Oklo (nuclear SMRs), GE Vernova (natural gas), and hydrogen data center operator ECL. The panel will delve into microgrids, hydrogen as a backup power source, and the growing role of various on-site generation methods in providing resilience and sustainability.

The conversation underscores a critical point: as primary markets like Northern Virginia face power and land scarcity, data center development is being pushed into secondary and tertiary markets. This shift, combined with the focus on grid-optional and microgrid solutions, is redefining the architecture of future AI-driven data centers, which are expected to integrate a mix of solar, battery storage, gas turbines, and hydrogen.

This companion QuickChat video provides an excellent preview of more discussions around power and other large topics at the upcoming Data Center Frontier Trends Summit. The full event program is here.

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