Belgium’s new technological breakthrough – Introducing energy caps for AI centers

As big tech companies are spending billions on artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that powers it, countries around the world are struggling to respond to an explosive growth of electricity consumption.

The Belgian grid operator Elia could limit the amount of electricity data centers can use to prevent other industrial users from being “pushed” off the grid, it said after a surge in demand from power plants that power AI.

Under the reforms proposed by Elia, data centers would be placed in a separate category, with specific network capacity and a consumption cap.

This, the company says, would ensure that other sectors are not left without access to the grid. It would also allow for flexible connections that would be limited during times of grid congestion.

In Belgium, data center connection requests have increased ninefold since 2022, and the reserved capacity for 2034 already exceeds twice the planned 8 terawatt hours in the national grid development plan.

– Such volumes were not foreseen in the grid development scenarios – Elia said, warning that speculative projects that may never materialize are blocking grid capacity.

Belgian Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet confirmed that the growth in data center consumption would be part of the new federal grid development strategy for the period 2028-2038.

– I will pay special attention to this when adopting the plan – he said.

US giant Google has already announced an investment of EUR 5 billion in Belgium, with the aim of expanding its data center campus to serve the development of its AI strategy.

Ella

artificial intelligence

AI

Mathieu Bihet

Google

electricity consumption

data centers

flexible connections