At the end of 2024, a Silicon Valley team that included researchers from Stripe, Anthropic, Tesla, and elsewhere produced a report showing that solar microgrids are by far the fastest way to build the power that data centers need. “Estimated time to operation for a large off-grid solar microgrid could be around 2 years (1-2 years for site acquisition and permitting plus 1-2 years for site buildout), though there’s no obvious reason why this couldn’t be done faster by very motivated and competent builders,” the report states. That’s because essentially all you have to do is put up a bunch of solar panels and some batteries and run a wire to your data center—not build a huge centralized power plant and connect it to the grid. The report continues, “Off-grid solar microgrids offer a fast path to power AI datacenters at enormous scale. The tech is mature, the suitable parcels of land in the US Southwest are known, and this solution is likely faster than most, if not all, alternatives.”
I want solar but I don't want it on my newish roof with a 50 year waranty. I get why roof installs are popular but why does it seem to be the only solution for consumers that is offered. They can look at my house from maps and see of got a sizable empty plot of land next to my house that could also be used.
Siting them close to data centers, and connecting them to grid is easy because the utility controlled grid wants the datacenter customer. Utilities are slow to connect solar because they either own or can be bribed by existing FF plants.
A grid connection allows oversizing the solar production, and exporting. But where massive datacenter expansion strains the grid is during daytime peaks. Solar and batteries locally avoids that congestion, and then grid can provide energy and better utilize grid at night.