At Earthshot Ventures, we’re looking for outlier entrepreneurs building at the intersection of climate and AI. Our latest investment, Emerald AI, is a perfect example of this thesis in action.
The Challenge
Artificial intelligence is fueling an unprecedented surge in global energy demand. According to the International Energy Agency, global data center electricity use is projected to more than double to 945 TWh by 2030 (IEA). AI is the primary driver, alongside the accelerating demand for other digital services. The scale is mind-boggling.
At the same time, we don’t have an energy shortage, we have a capacity shortage - there is enough electricity for all but a few high demand periods a year. The United States could add ~100 GW of data centers to the grid with no new energy generation if these data centers were curtailed just ~.5% percent of the time. But because data centers currently aren’t flexible, they put an incremental strain on the grid, and thus are waiting in long interconnection queues to get connected to the grid.
The Solution
The data center boom is pulling forward energy innovation. Data centers will be built not only for peak compute performance, but also for speed of interconnection, demand flexibility, and energy efficiency.
Emerald AI is seizing this opportunity with a software platform that optimizes when and how data centers consume power. The platform intelligently identifies and throttles flexible compute loads during periods of grid stress, without disrupting mission-critical or time-sensitive operations. By unlocking demand flexibility at scale, Emerald enables data centers to secure faster interconnections and accelerate deployment, an enormous advantage in a world where speed to power is everything.
Why We Invested
The best investments have a strong ‘why now,’ and Emerald’s could not be more clear - AI data center demand is exploding right now, and the solutions that are able to most cost effectively bring new facilities online will create massive value. A suite of solutions will contribute over time, but gas turbines are backlogged, nuclear development takes years, and true microgrids are still far more expensive than the grid. Demand flexibility is the best solution today.
Emerald was started by Varun Sivaram, who previously was the CTO of Renew Power (a renewable IPP), worked in President Biden's White House, and was the Chief Strategy Officer of Orsted. He started Emerald because his firsthand experience trying to solve the problem within Orsted showed him that there was a massive opportunity for a company who could sprint at this opportunity with a blank slate. Varun’s experience and networks spanning energy and policy make him the perfect CEO for a company that will require strong multiparty coordination between data center operators, utilities, independent system operators, and regulators.
Today’s Announcement with NVIDIA
Their collaboration with NVIDIA will launch the world’s first commercial‑scale, power‑flexible 96MW AI Factory and a reference design for future AI Factories, in close collaboration with PJM, Digital Realty, and the EPRI DCFlex Initiative. This new reference design will enable rapid scaling of power-flexible AI factories around the world while providing utilities and grid operators a benchmark standard for power-flexible AI capabilities that can speed and expand power grid connections.
“We are thrilled to work with NVIDIA and this distinguished group of industry leaders to demonstrate what’s possible when data centers become intelligent, flexible partners to the grid,” said Varun Sivaram, Founder and CEO of Emerald AI. “Through our tight integration with NVIDIA's AI factory stack, we are turning grid awareness into actionable data center control.”
We invested in Emerald’s most recent round, joining investors including NVIDIA, Lowercarbon Capital, Radical Ventures, National Grid Partners, CRV, and an all star roster of angel investors including Kleiner Perkins Chairman & Earthshot LP John Doerr, Galvanize Co-Chair and Earthshot LP Tom Steyer, Google’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
Join us in welcoming Emerald AI to the Earthshot Ventures portfolio!
Onward,
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