With data centers expected to consume as much as 12% of electricity in the U.S. by 2028, it’s no surprise that tech companies are looking for power no matter the source, whether it be nuclear, renewables, or something else entirely. But solar produces a very different type of electric current from a nuclear plant, and integrating various power sources can be challenging.
“We’ve got about 90 gigawatts [of data centers] globally in 2023, and that’s going to increase to over 185 gigawatts by 2028, so it’s only just around the corner,” Gary Lawrence, CEO of Amperesand, told TechCrunch.
Today’s equipment, the transformers that convert power from one format to another, are up to the task, but Amperesand is betting that its technology can do it better and more efficiently.
At its core, Amperesand’s technology replaces the iron cores that define old transformers with silicon carbide. Existing transformers follow the same basic design that has worked well for over a century, but they have their shortcomings. For one, they aren’t good at regulating surges and dips in voltage or frequency. Plus, they have to be tailored to the specific format of electricity they’re looking to transform.
Solid-state transformers made with silicon carbide promise to change that. “The solid-state transformer platform is multi-port by design, it’s modular,” said Brian Dow, Amperesand’s new chief product officer.
“We can make different AC phases, AC to AC, AC to DC. You can natively integrate DC sources like photovoltaic [solar] and batteries. You can integrate with turbines, small modular reactors. And you can basically seamlessly transition between them, so if the grid has an issue, you can back up but also you can come back online.”
Amperesand is in the process of raising a Series A round after it landed a $12.5 million seed round last year, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. “We’ve just kicked off a Series A, and it’s moving really quickly,” said Phil Inagaki, managing partner at Temasek’s Xora Innovations. The company is targeting EV charging and grid applications in addition to data centers, and the solid-state nature of the technology makes it easier to control with software. It demonstrated a 6 megawatt transformer last year.
Xora incubated Amperesand, and Inagaki led the company through its initial formation. Recently, with some funding and a firm strategy in place, he handed the reins to a new leadership team, including Lawrence, Dow, and Tommy Joyner, the company’s new chief technology officer.
The Singapore-based startup is also in the process of opening an office here in the U.S. to be closer to the massive market and to tap local talent. Dow and Joyner, for example, both did stints at Tesla and Generac.
“The U.S. is still where there’s amazing talent that we can capture,” Inagaki said. “We have some in Singapore, but we won’t be able to scale that quickly. So definitely, that talent angle was a big factor.”
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One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was an executive order that could kill the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States.
Trump’s order, signed Monday, halted federal leases for offshore wind development on the outer continental shelf — a location far enough from shore that wind speeds are consistently higher, but near enough that it’s readily accessible.
“This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation,” the order states.
The order does not halt work on projects that have signed leases, though it does direct the Secretary of the Interior to review existing contracts for ways to terminate or amend them.
Offshore wind has had a rough go of it in the United States. There are just a handful of operating offshore wind farms in American waters, amounting to just 174 megawatts of capacity at the end of May, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That’s a fraction of a percent of the worldwide total of 68 gigawatts, most of which are in Europe and China.
The sector’s prospects were starting to improve, though, with 4.1 gigawatts under construction, another 3.4 gigawatts approved, and another 19.8 gigawatts moving through the permitting process. Altogether, that would have helped reach the Biden Administration’s goal of boosting offshore wind capacity to 30 gigawatts by the end of the decade.
While offshore wind is still expensive compared with other sources of power, its relative consistency and proximity to major population centers — and data centers — has made it attractive. In Europe, data centers operators have been keen to sign deals. Last year, Google agreed to buy 478 megawatts of offshore wind power to supply two data centers in the Netherlands.
In the U.S., offshore wind has been hampered by public resistance, a lack of infrastructure required to build and install the turbines. The availability of cheap, windy land in the interior of the country has also tilted the scales in favor of onshore turbines.
Since the majority of offshore wind development occurs in other countries, Trump’s executive order won’t kill offshore wind entirely. Instead, the sector is likely to mature in other countries, where companies can gain expertise, waiting for the U.S. market to reopen.
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In sweeping executive orders, Trump clears the way for incandescent bulbs and powerful toilets while revoking Biden’s old orders.