Flex appeal: UK datacenter cuts AI power draw 40% on command

A UK datacenter has successfully demonstrated it can reduce the amount of power drawn by AI infrastructure in response to grid events, without disrupting critical workloads.

The trial, conducted over five days last December, involved a cluster of Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs installed in a datacenter near London operated by GPU-as-a-service biz Nebius.

This involved more than 200 simulated grid event notifications, sent to the site to test its ability to dynamically adjust the cluster's power consumption. This was achieved successfully, cutting power demand by up to 40 percent while key tasks continued to run as normal, according to energy provider National Grid.

As well as National Grid and Nebius, the project involves Emerald AI, which supplies the software, and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) with its Datacenter Flexible Load Initiative (DCFlex).

A whitepaper provided by National Grid reveals that power control is largely achieved by pausing or deprioritizing ...