Let's talk about solar-powered data centers. A lot of the recent discussion of data center power has focused on strategies supported by natural gas, or perhaps small modular nuclear reactors.

But what about renewable energy?

Today my guest is Nic Bustamante, who has held data center leadership positions at several hyperscale players. Nic is the Chief Data Center Officer at ExoWatt, a renewable energy company with an innovative approach to delivering clean power around the clock for data center campuses. It combines several existing technologies - thermal solar, Fresnel concentrating lenses, and the Stirling engine - to create a module that provides solar power and energy storage without lithium batteries.

We talk about the current state of data center energy, ExoWatt's thermal solar technology, and the opportunity for solar in the AI boom. Here's an overview of our conversation:

00:00 - The Solar Opportunity for AI Data Centers

01:20 - Nic Bustamente and his Data Center Journey

03:15 - A Box of Hot Rocks: What's Different About ExoWatt?

09:30 - How Much Land Does Solar Need (at AI Scale)

18:00 - The Geography of Solar Data Centers

25:00 - Community Relations and Solar

32:00 - How Inference Could Shape Solar Deployments

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At Data Center Richness we demystify technology and explain why data centers matter, and what comes next for the Internet, cloud computing and AI. Host Rich Miller is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the data center sector for 25 years.

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LINKS FROM THIS SHOW

Exowatt
https://www.exowatt.com/

ExoRise Powered Land
https://www.exowatt.com/exorise

Nic Bustamante on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbustamante/

Rich Miller on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/datacenterfrontier/

RELATED VIDEOS:

Why AI Data Centers Are Building Their Own Power
https://youtu.be/Yx7QGNQsJaQ?si=5KI-IgaaZU7GAtwL

Decoding Data Center Power (Dan Crosby)
https://youtu.be/GJiBqvUl5rU?si=OP8wPhevaZnyY8xL

Why Data Centers Are Turning to Bloom Energy
https://youtu.be/Z-udNWq2bAg?si=E1a0OPEgdM9Dz_jT

All video by Data Center Richness.

Supplemental music via Epidemic Sound https://share.epidemicsound.com/60o8qx