Energy
The grid is the ‘most complicated machine’ ever built, and AI is stressing it out

News release from The Deep View
At the beginning of the year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that, in 2022, data centers consumed around 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy, or around 3% of global electricity use. The IEA further predicted that this number will likely more than double to around 1,000 TWh by 2026 — roughly the equivalent of Japan — due, at least in part, to the energy demands of artificial intelligence. |
Many of the massive investments being made around the world in AI have to do with building more data centers, even as existing data centers are consuming more energy than ever before. What this means for carbon emissions is complicated (since it depends on the cleanliness of the grid at each data center location), but today, we’re talking about the grid. |
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What’s going on here is that, driven by spiking data center demand, electricity demand is currently experiencing a prolonged surge. Mariko McDonagh Meier, the chief revenue officer for energy storage developer Convergent, told me that this is significant, as energy demand had been relatively flat for the past 20+ years. |
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The details: Grid operators, according to Meier, have the basic charge of ensuring the grid is reliable. This means managing electricity supply and demand in real-time. If a massive machine — or data center — comes online and its accompanying demand hasn’t been properly accounted for, it could “break a lot of stuff.” |
The reality, according to Meier, is that “the grid is the most complicated machine that’s ever been built, truly, because it is an interconnected machine.” The reason behind this interconnection has to do with built-in fail-safes; local problems can be solved by drawing on power from other places. This enhances the reliability of each interconnected grid (the U.S. and Canadian power grids, for example, are connected at 37 different points for this very reason). |
The result of this interconnection — coupled with a lack of storage capabilities built into the grid — is that the grid has to be constantly balanced. This data center-driven increase then poses a significant challenge to grid operators, resulting additionally in delays for new data centers to come online. |
In order to meet this surging demand, and in order to keep the grid reliable, the retirement dates of environmentally damaging coal plants are being pushed back in the U.S. |
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A big solution to this rather complex mess, according to Meier, involves solar plus storage tech (something that Convergent offers). Depending on the size of the solar array in question, the combination can be enough to power a data center, perhaps with a minimal connection to the grid — the result is cheaper, sustainable energy production that doesn’t impact grid reliability. |
Canadian Energy Centre
Saskatchewan Indigenous leaders urging need for access to natural gas

Piapot First Nation near Regina, Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy Piapot First Nation/Facebook
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Cody Ciona and Deborah Jaremko
“Come to my nation and see how my people are living, and the struggles that they have day to day out here because of the high cost of energy, of electric heat and propane.”
Indigenous communities across Canada need access to natural gas to reduce energy poverty, says a new report by Energy for a Secure Future (ESF).
It’s a serious issue that needs to be addressed, say Indigenous community and business leaders in Saskatchewan.
“We’re here today to implore upon the federal government that we need the installation of natural gas and access to natural gas so that we can have safe and reliable service,” said Guy Lonechild, CEO of the Regina-based First Nations Power Authority, on a March 11 ESF webinar.
Last year, 20 Saskatchewan communities moved a resolution at the Assembly of First Nations’ annual general assembly calling on the federal government to “immediately enhance” First Nations financial supports for “more desirable energy security measures such as natural gas for home heating.”
“We’ve been calling it heat poverty because that’s what it really is…our families are finding that they have to either choose between buying groceries or heating their home,” Chief Christine Longjohn of Sturgeon Lake First Nation said in the ESF report.
“We should be able to live comfortably within our homes. We want to be just like every other homeowner that has that choice to be able to use natural gas.”
At least 333 First Nations communities across Canada are not connected to natural gas utilities, according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
ESF says that while there are many federal programs that help cover the upfront costs of accessing electricity, primarily from renewable sources, there are no comparable ones to support natural gas access.
“Most Canadian and Indigenous communities support actions to address climate change. However, the policy priority of reducing fossil fuel use has had unintended consequences,” the ESF report said.
“Recent funding support has been directed not at improving reliability or affordability of the energy, but rather at sustainability.”
Natural gas costs less than half — or even a quarter — of electricity prices in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, according to CER data.
“Natural gas is something NRCan [Natural Resources Canada] will not fund. It’s not considered a renewable for them,” said Chief Mark Fox of the Piapot First Nation, located about 50 kilometres northeast of Regina.
“Come to my nation and see how my people are living, and the struggles that they have day to day out here because of the high cost of energy, of electric heat and propane.”
According to ESF, some Indigenous communities compare the challenge of natural gas access to the multiyear effort to raise awareness and, ultimately funding, to address poor water quality and access on reserve.
“Natural gas is the new water,” Lonechild said.
2025 Federal Election
MORE OF THE SAME: Mark Carney Admits He Will Not Repeal the Liberal’s Bill C-69 – The ‘No Pipelines’ Bill

From EnergyNow.Ca
Mark Carney on Tuesday explicitly stated the Liberals will not repeal their controversial Bill C-69, legislation that prevents new pipelines being built.
Carney has been campaigning on boosting the economy and the “need to act forcefully” against President Donald Trump and his tariffs by harvesting Canada’s wealth of natural resources — until it all fell flat around him when he admitted he actually had no intention to build pipelines at all.
When a reporter asked Carney how he plans to maintain Bill C-69 while simultaneously building infrastructure in Canada, Carney replied, “we do not plan to repeal Bill C-69.”
“What we have said, formally at a First Ministers meeting, is that we will move for projects of national interest, to remove duplication in terms of environmental assessments and other approvals, and we will follow the principle of ‘one project, one approval,’ to move forward from that.”
“What’s essential is to work at this time of crisis, to come together as a nation, all levels of government, to focus on those projects that are going to make material differences to our country, to Canadian workers, to our future.”
“The federal government is looking to lead with that, by saying we will accept provincial environmental assessments, for example clean energy projects or conventional energy projects, there’s many others that could be there.”
“We will always ensure these projects move forward in partnership with First Nations.”
Tory leader Pierre Poilievre was quick to respond to Carney’s admission that he has no intention to build new pipelines. “This Liberal law blocked BILLIONS of dollars of investment in oil & gas projects, pipelines, LNG plants, mines, and so much more — all of which would create powerful paychecks for our people,” wrote Poilievre on X.
“A fourth Liberal term will block even more and keep us reliant on the US,” he wrote, urging people to vote Conservative.
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