With global electricity demand from data centers expected to more than double by 2030, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) launched an effort in September that brings together MIT researchers and industry experts to explore innovative solutions to power a data-driven future. At its annual research conference, MITEI announced the Data Center Power Forum, a targeted research effort for MITEI member companies interested in addressing the challenges of data center power demand. The Data Center Power Forum builds on lessons learned from MITEI’s May 2025 symposium on energy powering the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and a focus panel related to data centers at the Autumn 2024 Research Conference.
According to the Electric Power Research Institute, data centers in the United States will consume 4 percent of the country’s electricity in 2023, with demand expected to grow to 9 percent by 2030. Much of the increase in demand is due to the increased use of AI, which is putting unprecedented pressure on the electric grid. This increase in demand presents a serious challenge to the technology and energy sectors, government policy makers and everyday consumers, which could result in their electricity bills skyrocketing.
“MITEI has long supported research on ways to produce more efficient and cleaner energy and manage the electric grid. In recent years, MITEI has also funded dozens of research projects related to data center energy issues. Building on this history and knowledge, MITEI’s Data Center Power Forum is convening an exclusive community of industry members who have a significant stake in accelerating the continued development of AI and solutions to power data centers and the expansion of the grid,” said MITEI and Hoyt. says director William H. Green. C. Hotel Professor of Chemical Engineering.
MITEI’s mission is to advance zero- and low-carbon solutions to expand energy access and mitigate climate change. MITEI works with companies across the energy innovation chain, including the infrastructure, automotive, electric power, energy, natural resources and insurance sectors. Green says MITEI member companies have expressed keen interest in the Data Center Power Forum and are committed to supporting research focused on a wide range of energy issues associated with data center expansion.
MITEI’s Data Center Power Forum will provide its member companies with credible insights into energy supply, grid load operations and management, the built environment and electricity market design and regulatory policy for data centres. The Forum complements MIT’s deep expertise in adjacent topics such as low-power processors, efficient algorithms, task-specific AI, photonic devices, quantum computing, and the societal consequences of data center expansion. As part of the Forum, MITEI’s Future Energy Systems Center is funding data center energy-related projects in its upcoming proposal cycles. MITEI research scientist Deep Deka has been named program manager for the platform.
Deka said, “Figuring out how to meet the power demands of data centers is a complex challenge. Our research is coming at it from multiple directions, including looking at ways to expand transmission capacity within the electrical grid to bring power where it is needed, ensuring the quality of electrical service to existing users does not degrade as new data centers come online, and shifting computing tasks to times and locations where energy is available on the grid.”
MITEI currently sponsors substantial research related to data center energy topics in several MIT departments. The current research portfolio includes more than a dozen projects related to data centers, low- or zero-carbon solutions for energy supply and infrastructure, electrical grid management and electricity market policy. MIT researchers funded through the MITEI industry consortium are also designing more energy-efficient power electronics and processors and investigating low/no-carbon power plants and energy storage behind the meter. MITEI-supported experts are studying how to use AI to optimize power distribution and siting of data centers and conduct techno-economic analysis of data center power plans. MITEI’s consortium projects are bringing new approaches to data center cooling challenges and considering policy approaches to balancing stakeholder interests.
By bringing together industry stakeholders from across the AI and grid value chains, the Data Center Power Forum enables a rich dialogue about solutions to power, grid and carbon management problems in a non-commercial and collaborative setting.
“The opportunity to meet and discuss major data center challenges with other Forum members from a variety of fields, as well as MIT faculty members and research scientists, is a unique benefit of this MITEI-led effort,” says Green.
MITEI addressed the issue of data center power needs with its company members during its 2024 Annual Research Conference with a panel session titled, “The Extreme Challenge of Powering Data Centers in a Decarbonized Way.” MITEI Research Director Randall Fields led a discussion with representatives of big technology companies Google and Microsoft, known as “hyperscalers,” as well as Madrid-based infrastructure developer Ferrovial SE and utility company Exelon Corp. Another conference session addressed a related topic, “Energy Storage and Grid Expansion”. Last spring, MITEI focused its annual Spring Symposium on data centers, hosting an all-day session on the topic “AI and Energy: Crisis and Promise” featuring faculty members and researchers from MIT and other universities, business leaders, and a representative from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
