Huge Desert Power Complex 22 Times Size of Yeouido... ESS Market 'Rapidly Growing'

[Anchor]

Artificial intelligence and data centers are often referred to as electricity guzzlers. They require a massive amount of power, and to meet this soaring electricity demand, an ultra-large power generation complex is being built in the U.S. desert.

Reporter Jang Seon-i visited the site.

[Reporter]

Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.

Known as the Silicon Valley of the desert, this area is clustered with global factories, including Taiwan's TSMC semiconductor plant and South Korea's LG Energy Solution battery plant.

Data centers are also moving in following the expansion of the AI industry.

As electricity demand skyrockets, one of the largest power generation complexes in the U.S. utilizing solar power and energy storage systems (ESS) is under construction here.

It is a mega-scale power complex spanning an area 22 times the size of Yeouido.

Eight out of ten new power facilities being built in the U.S. are solar power and batteries like these.

[Ryan Tohill / Director of Economic Development, City of Phoenix: If we want to continue to expand the manufacturing base and global companies making the semiconductor chips of the future, we absolutely need the power capacity to back that up.]

The amount of electricity required to run a single data center equals that of a decent-sized city.

While it takes 5 to 10 years to build a single power plant, a data center can be built in just 1 to 2 years.

As a result, there is a surge in demand for ESS, which stores surplus electricity from the grid and supplies it when needed.

A single container holds 5.1 megawatt-hours, an ESS capable of powering hundreds of homes for a day.

In the U.S., these batteries are installed alongside every new data center.

[Tristan Doherty / Head of Product Strategy Team, LG Energy Solution Vertech: (ESS) has now established itself as a tier-one critical grid asset. It has become a practical main driver that expands the power grid and makes it possible to handle new data center demands.]

Chinese companies currently dominate over 70% of the global ESS battery market, but South Korean firms are stepping up to challenge them.

Orders are on the rise, including securing an ESS supply contract for Oracle's data center that will be used by OpenAI.

Demand for ESS is growing in South Korea as well.

With the government pushing three major mega-project initiatives including semiconductors, physical AI, and data centers, demand for ESS is expected to increase even further.

Global ESS supplies in the first half of this year increased by 71% compared to the previous year.

Originally launched to supplement the irregular intermittency of renewable energy, the ESS market is expanding at a rapid pace as the massive demand driver of AI is added.

(Video by Bae Moon-san | Video Editing by Yoon Tae-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.