National Grid and Emerald AI today announced a strategic partnership to demonstrate how AI data centres can work with the transmission network to adjust their energy use in real time, making better use of existing capacity to support the UKs growing digital needs.
The partners will deliver a live demonstration in the United Kingdom showcasing Emerald Conductor, an AI-powered system that acts as a smart mediator between the grid and a data centre, supporting flexible management of energy demand. Targeted for late 2025, the demonstration will use cutting-edge NVIDIA GPUs, dynamically adjust energy consumption, and support grid stability.
The electricity transmission network is designed with built-in redundancy to deliver world-class reliability and keep the lights on for customers. Capacity is typically available outside of peak events like hot summer days or cold winter storms, when theres high demand for cooling and heating. That means, in many cases, theres room on the existing grid to connect new data centres, if they can temporarily dial down energy usage during periods of peak demand.