Vittorio Pierangeli of Rolls-Royce at Data Centre LIVE

The AI boom is reshaping the business strategies that keep digital infrastructure running behind the scenes.

Few companies are showcasing this monumental shift better than Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

While Rolls-Royce is famously known for its luxury cars, this division of the business focuses on renewable battery storage systems and aircraft engines.

Now, the company is seeing power generation become an even bigger challenge as data centre operators grapple with unprecedented energy demands.

Speaking with BizClik Studio at Data Centre LIVE, Vittorio Pierangeli, Senior Vice President of Global Power Generation at Rolls-Royce Power Systems, explained how AI is creating new pressures on power infrastructure.

“Today in my keynote, I talked about how artificial intelligence is transforming the energy sector, driving a massive increase in demand for power compared to the past,” he said.

“If you compare the power consumption of a ChatGPT query to a Google search, for example, a ChatGPT query requires ten to 100 times more energy.

“This is obviously impacting the demand for power and the need for further development of energy infrastructure.

“We are seeing a significant impact of AI on the overall energy sector, and that's what I wanted to talk about today.” 

Tackling AI's power challenges

According to Vittorio, the rapid growth of AI is presenting data centre operators with a series of new power-related challenges.

These include ensuring reliable backup power, securing access to grid capacity and managing the fluctuating power demands created by AI workloads.

“I talked about some of the challenges that the significant increase in AI adoption is presenting for the energy sector.

“There is the challenge of backup power availability – ensuring the availability of the data centre at all times.

“There's also the challenge of accessing grid power to ensure that the centre has continuous power to run its operations.

“And I talked about the new challenge of AI variable loads, where AI training models introduce power spikes into systems which need to be managed to avoid blackouts.

“This is a space that is significantly transforming on the back of the adoption and growth of artificial intelligence.”

Rolls-Royce has manufactured a range of technologies helping to address those issues, including backup power systems, gas-powered generation and power conditioning technologies designed to smooth variable loads.

Data centres at a new scale

The rise of AI is also changing the size and scope of digital infrastructure projects.

Where cloud data centres once operated at 10MW to 20MW, facilities are now being developed at 100MW scale and beyond, with gigawatt-scale campuses becoming a reality.

“The industry has significantly transformed, particularly since the introduction of AI tools.

“We are seeing data centres being built today that are orders of magnitude larger than in the past.

“A cloud data centre historically was 10 to 20MW. Now we're talking about 100MW up to gigawatt-scale – we have multi-gigawatt data centres in operation and being built.

“The scale of construction is unprecedented. We call this a once-in-a-generation opportunity for those of us working in this industry. This is not a trend that happens every three to five years.”

Transition from generator supplier to solutions provider

That growth has helped transform Rolls-Royce itself.

Vittorio said power generation now accounts for more than half of the business within Rolls-Royce Power Systems, compared with roughly a quarter historically.

To support data centre customers, the company has expanded beyond manufacturing equipment to delivering integrated power solutions, including installation and long-term support.

At the same time, Rolls-Royce is focusing on sustainability. Its backup systems can operate on HVO fuel, while its gas engines have been developed to run on 100% hydrogen, helping operators reduce emissions while meeting growing power requirements.

Looking ahead, Vittorio sees Rolls-Royce honing its focus in on technology, continuing to develop products and integrated solutions for the data centre market.