The recent announcement that Amazon, Microsoft and Google are all investing in nuclear power generation is a brilliant strategic move for these giants.
Big enough to not get pushed around by government agencies, they are no doubt looking towards the future, and what they are seeing is public utilities under unfathomable stress, resulting in rolling brownouts and electrical rationing.
Rather than having to play the sharing game with energy supply, they can stand alone and even sell it if needed. And being private enterprise, they will do it better, faster and more productively than any government utility. This abundance of power will allow them to experience zero slow down of their AI implementation. They will be immune to the day-to-day public electrical grid maladies and the big three will dominate. It’s a particularly virtuoso strategy.
In our industry, we should take heed of these activities and recognize them as coal mine canaries, signalling to us that the drain on energy is going to become a massive and unrelenting force for the globe. There is no doubt that the energy demand curves are going to turn hockey stick on us, and in short order.
With the third largest reserves in the world, here in Alberta we are in a prime position to fuel the planet with clean gas and oil, which will be in high demand both as a primary and backup source of energy.
Those who take action now will prosper. We have it all folks. We have the brains, we have the tactility, we are strategic and we have supply.
If I could dream for a moment, I would add that we should be entertaining how to maximize utilization of our prime resource. Shipping oil is one thing, but moving finished products that are manufactured from oil, or even better, fueling the AI services, will give us a 1-to-4 or even 1-to-8 payback. That is what the big three are doing. They are going to produce energy, and then operate AI, and then produce stuff. This move by AmaGoogSoft is just a first volley into what will surely be a new frontier in energy utilization. Right here at home we can do the same thing. We are masters at oil and gas production, now let’s become masters in turning that energy into services. The recent Smith/Enbridge announcement to double production is a good start, but we can do so much more. It’s a no-brainer in the long run.
Chuck Bean is the founder of The Method Effect, a Calgary based consultancy. In his 40-year career, he has led large corporations and worked with over 40 Capstone teams in 20+ North American universities, providing strategic business and innovation support and consulting. www.themethodeffect.com
