Is a zero-emission, gigawatt data center possible? The CEO of EdgeCloudLink says yes, but only if developers are capable of substituting hydrogen for natural gas as a source of energy.
Speaking on the sidelines of the DCD New York event in March, Bachar tells Cool Vector his company already runs a zero-emission data center in Mountain View, California. The success gave ECL and partners the ambition to aim for a gigawatt project in Texas.
Bachar estimates pipeline hydrogen runs at roughly six to seven cents per kilowatt hour, on par with natural gas, making the economics more competitive than widely assumed.
Key takeaways from Bachar’s interview:
Modular data centers are the only way to keep pace with GPU generation cycles. “Whatever we design right now to be delivered in 2028 is going to be too late — that’s three generations of Nvidia in the process,” says Bachar.
Hydrogen-powered data centers produce zero emissions and zero water waste by closing the loop between generation and cooling.
Speed to deployment has completely eclipsed sustainability as the primary purchase driver. Says Bachar: “The king is time to token, and people are willing to compromise on sustainability.”
A hydrogen-based gigawatt AI factory is achievable in three years from a committed customer.
Access the transcript and a searchable content archive at the Cool Vector Substack: https://coolvector.substack.com/p/hydrogen-will-fuel-the-first-zero
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