National Grid and Emerald AI announced a strategic partnership to demonstrate how AI data centres can work with the transmission network to adjust their energy use in real time, making better use of existing capacity to support the UK’s growing digital needs.
The partners will deliver a live demonstration in the United Kingdom showcasing Emerald Conductor, an AI-powered system that acts as a smart mediator between the grid and a data centre, supporting flexible management of energy demand. Targeted for late 2025, the demonstration will use cutting-edge NVIDIA GPUs, dynamically adjust energy consumption, and support grid stability.
The electricity transmission network is designed with built-in redundancy to deliver world-class reliability and keep the lights on for customers. Capacity is typically available outside of peak events like hot summer days or cold winter storms, when there’s high demand for cooling and heating. That means, in many cases, there’s room on the existing grid to connect new data centres, if they can temporarily dial down energy usage during periods of peak demand.
This strategic partnership will help position the UK as a global leader in AI and reduce the need for additional infrastructure by giving National Grid more confidence that data centres can lower their energy use when required.
By increasing the utilisation of existing electricity infrastructure, National Grid, working closely with the National Energy System Operator, can better manage growing demand, attract investment in advanced computing, and support the UK’s transition to a more efficient and flexible energy system.
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In addition to the partnership, National Grid Partners has also made a strategic investment in Emerald AI.
Steve Smith, Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid said:
“As the UK’s digital economy grows, unlocking new ways to flexibly manage energy use is essential for connecting more data centres to our network efficiently. This groundbreaking trial with Emerald AI demonstrates how innovative technologies can help us optimise the grid, enable increased investment in advanced computing, and deliver real benefits to the wider UK economy. We’re excited to collaborate with Emerald AI and other partners as we progress this project, exploring how smart solutions can support economic growth and the nation’s future connectivity needs.”
Varun Sivaram, Founder and CEO of Emerald AI said:
“This partnership is about showing that AI infrastructure doesn’t have to be a burden on the grid—it can be a critical asset. Together with National Grid, we’re proving that flexible AI Factories can accelerate AI innovation in the UK while enhancing reliability and affordability for everyone connected to the grid.”
The 2025 demonstration will showcase how a wide variety of AI workload types can be adjusted in real time. By changing computing activity when the grid is under pressure, the demonstration will prove that AI data centres can act as responsive partners to the electricity network while maintaining performance standards for mission-critical workloads.
Building on the demonstration, this strategic partnership will also advance technical standards for AI data centre flexibility, collaborate with customers to bring this capability to the growing pipeline of UK data centres, and foster broader industry collaboration through the NextGrid Alliance. Through this collaboration, National Grid and Emerald AI are establishing a new blueprint for integrating AI and energy infrastructure – one that shows how data centres can help make the power grid more reliable, lower costs, and support clean energy.
Source: PRNewswire