Google shares its ‘number one challenge’ in powering up data centres on the grid: ‘Our hope is that…’

A Google executive has shared the primary obstacle to the company’s massive artificial intelligence (AI) expansion: this isn’t hardware or software but the physical wires of the American power grid. A top energy executive at the search giant revealed that wait times to connect new data centres to the electrical transmission system have skyrocketed, reaching over a decade in certain regions. Power consumption is one of the biggest bottlenecks that tech companies are facing even as their energy draw strains the grid.

“Transmission barriers are the number one challenge we’re seeing on the grid,” said Marsden Hanna, Global Head of Sustainability and Climate Policy at Google, during an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, news agency Reuters reported.