Batteries could be the catalyst for the next phase of the AI boom

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From ESS News

AI is pushing the limits of data center power capacity and many see clean energy as key to meeting the demand. For one Big Tech veteran, however, the missing ingredient that could successfully satiate AI’s hunger isn’t power generation: it’s energy storage.

“The challenge with using solar or wind systems for data center applications is unreliable power,” Yuval Bachar, the founder and CEO of data center startup EdgeCloudLink (ECL), told ESS News during a site visit. Data center operators must be able to ensure reliability, he explained, and “batteries are the control layer that let us do that and allow everything else to scale.”

In his eyes, that control function could shape the next generation of data center design.

While Bachar spent decades building hardware architecture at companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook and Cisco, he’s now focused on how energy and sustainability fit into the AI puzzle. Successfully scaling renewable-powered AI requires a mindset shift around power delivery, he said, rather than solely chasing incremental efficiency gains.

At ECL’s 1 MW off-grid pilot site in Mountain View, CA, that looks like a Tesla Megapack paired with onsite hydrogen fuel cells and electrolysers. The fuel cells are flashy, but it’s the battery that makes the system tick by shaping demand, providing ride-through for hydrogen systems and enabling modularity that avoids costly redesigns.

“We build blocks that can be scaled out, not up,” Bachar explained, adding that ECL plans to power “at least one” of their sites with a behind-the-meter solar plant.

To read the fully story, please visit our ESS News website…

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