Hyperscaler Alert: Roll your own powerplant edition

Power is persnickety.

Hyperscalers are increasingly sensitive to the backlash against their data center builds. One of the points that the data center opposition frequently raises is the enormous strain these DCs put on the public power grid. Some hyperscalers are responding by building their own dedicated power plants.

This WSJ article points out that building and operating your own power plant isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. And these aren’t ‘normal’ power plants – the type and volume of electrical capacity needed by a DC is unique. As this article points out, DC electrical specifications call for capabilities that are currently beyond what the generating equipment companies can build.

Then there’s the small matter of finding, hiring, training and retaining the specialized engineers needed to operate the plants. There’s not exactly a surplus of these engineers sitting on the bench waiting to be hired.

And in shades of Azurix (IYKYK), what does Oracle know about building and running a power plant? It’s not their core competency. They know how to build and run software. Transformers and turbines, not so much.

Building your own power plant sounds good in a press release. The actual ‘doing it’ part is a lot more complicated. We’ll see how this works out.

Hyperscalers’ Off-Grid Power Push Comes With Risks – WSJ