energy

Spain and Portugal have “free” energy right now. If we do not share it with Europe it is due to only one reason: France

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While the Iberian Peninsula registers a surplus of unprecedented renewable energy at bargain prices, the rest of the continent continues to be suffocated by triple-digit bills. In the middle of these two realities a wall rises, not of stone, but of political and nuclear interests: France. The northern neighbor acts as a plug that prevents cheap energy from the south from flowing north, protecting its atomic industry at the expense of European consumers’ pockets. Two Europes disconnected. The data from February 11 are a blow to the table of European integration. According to the records of OMIE and ESIOSthe average daily market price in Spain has plummeted to €4.23/MWh, with hours in which producers have had to pay for injecting energy (negative prices of -€0.42/MWh). The situation in Portugal is even more extreme: the megawatt hour is paid at €0.34, that is, practically free. However, it is enough to cross the Pyrenees for reality to change drastically. The price map ESIOS turns central and northern Europe red: Germany pays electricity at €100.62/MWh, Belgium at €72.04/MWh and the Netherlands at €88.70/MWh. France, strategically located in the middle, enjoys a comfortable price of €13.61/MWh, benefiting from buying cheaply from the south without missing out on the flow to its northern neighbors. This disparity perfectly visualizes the concept of “energy island”: a peninsula overflowing with resources that does not have enough bridges to share them. The great uncoupling of February. What we are experiencing these first two weeks of February is what experts call a “total decoupling.” According to the analysis of Aleasoft Energy Forecastingthe arrival of several Atlantic storms has triggered wind and hydroelectric generation on the peninsula. By adding the solar contribution, the supply has far exceeded the internal demand. The Iberian market (MIBEL) has seen how their prices They fell by 43% in Spain and a staggering 74% in Portugal in just one week, reaching daily averages of €0.54/MWh, values ​​that had not been seen since April 2024. Meanwhile, the Energy Charts graphs show that Germany has continued with prices oscillating above €100/MWh for much of January and early February, still depending on non-renewable sources. The drama of throwing away energy. Having cheap electricity seems like excellent news for the domestic consumer, but it hides a serious systemic inefficiency. As there are not enough cables to export this surplus to a Europe thirsty for cheap energy, Spain is forced to carry out curtailment (technical discharges). As we have already explained in Xatakawe are literally throwing away around 7% of clean energy because it “does not fit” into the grid and has no outlet. This scenario causes zero prices that, paradoxically, can ruin renewable investors, who need profitability to continue deploying parks. Furthermore, the situation has uncovered the seams of the Spanish internal network. The network is administratively “collapsed”: the CNMC has had to delay until May 2026 the publication of the capacity maps because, under the new security criteria, 90% of the network nodes appear saturated. Only 12% of connection requests are being approved, which means that we have the energy, but the cables are missing to bring it to new industries and homes. The French nuclear “bunker”. If there is excess energy in the south and lack in the north, why not build an electric highway? The answer has its own name: nuclear protectionism. President Emmanuel Macron has declared that interconnections They are a “false debate”arguing that Spain’s problem is a “100% renewable model that its own network does not support.” However, the data refute the Elysée story. As expert Joaquín Coronado explainsSpain is not 100% renewable (it closed 2025 at 55.5%) and, in fact, it was Spain that came to the rescue of France in 2022 and 2025, exporting electricity through its combined cycles when the French nuclear park failed due to corrosion and heat problems. The reality, according to the CEO of RedeiaRoberto García Merino, is that the blockade “is not technical, it is pure geostrategy.” France needs to make profitable a pharaonic investment of 300,000 million euros in its nuclear park and fears that the massive entry of Spanish solar energy, much cheaper, will sink the prices and competitiveness of its reactors. Therefore, Paris has explicitly excluded of its 2025-2035 network plan the key interconnection projects for Aragon and Navarra, keeping the Iberian Peninsula as an island with only 2.8% interconnection, very far from the European objective of 15%. Any solution on the table? Brussels’ patience is running out. The European Commission has already issued an ultimatum to Francegiving him a period of nine months to unblock the situation and present a political declaration of commitment. Meanwhile, the only project that advancesalthough slow, is the submarine cable through the Bay of Biscay. Redeia confirmed that the laying campaigns will begin this summer of 2026, with an eye on its entry into operation by 2028. An unsustainable contradiction. Within the European Union, it is happening that while one member country desperately seeks energy autonomy and competitive prices for its industry, it allows another of its key partners to keep the door to the south closed. Spain could be Europe’s green battery, but without export capacity, that wealth is diluted in negative prices and technical waste. Everything happens while France acts as a strict customs officer that protects its atoms, preventing the European Union from truly being an energy union. Image | freepik Xataka | The great electrical jam in Spain: we have plenty of electricity, but there are no cables to build houses and invest more

They don’t have the AI ​​but they already have the energy

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In the AI ​​race, The United States has the chips and China has the energytwo different starting points that make them follow divergent trajectories. But both chips and energy are essential for the technology industry from a broader point of view. Guaranteeing supply is the first step to dominating emerging industries and China has taken it very seriously by stepping on the accelerator in the construction of energy infrastructure. The figures. According to data from the China National Energy Administration of which echoes BloombergIn 2025 alone, the Asian giant added 542.7 GW of capacity to what it already had to reach a total capacity of 3,890 GW. As collects China Newsthis is 16.1% more in just one year. In perspective. The cold data may not give an idea of ​​the magnitude of the Chinese attack, but those 542.7 GW added in the last year is more than the total capacity of powers such as India, Germany or Japan, according to data from the International Energy Agency. Only the United States and its 1,373 GW available on the electrical grid surpass it. However, if we extend the time frame four years ago, we find that in that period China expanded its capacity by 1,515.3 GW, more than everything the United States has today. Among China’s objectives With this ambitious commitment to energy, we are guaranteeing a stable and abundant supply, minimizing dependence on fuel imports and making it a competitive advantage in growth and intensive industries such as AI, robotics or advanced materials technology. Why is it important. From an engineering point of view, what China is doing in recent years is a feat: it has replicated the West’s largest power grid at lightning speed. What took the United States approximately a century, China has only required less than half a decade. But building electrical infrastructure (What happens with Data Centers?) is neither easy nor immediate: it requires planning, logistics and a highly qualified workforce. Not to mention permits or environmental evaluations. This level of manufacturing and installation involves overcoming a learning curve that reduces technology costs for global implementation. How has he done it. Achieving that capacity in record time is difficult, but it is not only how much but how: a good part of this growth comes from solar and wind energy. This type of energy, unlike fossil fuels, is intermittent. That is, it is not limiting itself to installing panels and wind turbines, but it is also redesigning the management of the network in the event of eventual events such as no sun or wind. However, coal and gas thermal power plants are also in record numbers. China has not forgotten nuclear and hydroelectric energy either, with more modest increases. What the graph doesn’t say. That China’s current capacity is immense does not mean that, for example, solar or wind plants are producing 24/7: their plant factor It is lower than those of gas or coal plants. Hence they need to build much more to achieve the same. And to move all that energy from one side of the country to the other, for example from the sunny Gobi Desert to industrial Shanghai, China has set up a kind of energy highway: the High Voltage Direct Current network, with the largest ultra-high voltage transformer in the world. You have another challenge ahead: where to store the excess energy. For now, is investing big time in lithium batteries and also in hydraulic pumping. In Xataka | The race for AI has placed China in an unthinkable scenario: forcing the United States to leave its comfort zone In Xataka | China needs chips and the United States needs energy: in the AI ​​race the two great powers have divergent paths Cover | Raisa Milova and Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra

A wind farm in Tudela is going to lose most of its wind turbines. And despite this it will produce much more energy

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The useful life of wind turbines is between 20 and 25 depending on the location and can reach up to 30 with some investments. The old blades are then removed and They are recycled in the most diverse ways and the wind turbines (some) are replaced by others. Or almost not, because the iconic Montes de Cierzo wind farm in Tudela is practically going to stay bald. Paradoxically, it will produce almost double. The skyline of Montes de Cierzo is going to change a lot. One of the autonomous communities that previously and most intensively opted for wind energy was Navarra, reaching become the Silicon Valley of wind turbines. Its deployment began in 1994 in the Sierra del Perdón, covering its territory from north to south that decade. What does that mean? Taking into account its useful life, in recent years there has been a renewal of its machinery. Latest, that of the Montes de Cierzo in Tudela. On the Statkraft roadmap is removing these veteran wind turbines from the Navarre park this year, removing 41 wind turbines to replace them with four latest generation models. Before, in the first phase of this renovation project, had already retired 44 machines to replace them with 10. In short, the park is going from 85 wind turbines to 14, with what that means in terms of visual impact. For this purpose, the company will allocate 40 million euros and has already been selected to receive aid of up to 24% from the IDAE. Less mills, more energy. Of course, the wind turbines will have a nominal power of around 6.5 MW (standardized by common companies such as Siemens Gamesa either Nordex). Thus, when the park is operational, there will be 84% fewer wind turbines disturbing the horizon of the Ebro Valley, but that will not mean that Monte del Cierzo takes a step back in energy supply, quite the contrary. We are facing a full-fledged repowering: the installed power will go from 60 MW to 90 MW, growing by 50%. Annually, the production estimated by the Norwegian company will go from 145 GWh/year to around 300 GWh/year, almost double. This change of wind turbines will be accompanied by storage systems. Repowering with hybridization. Having fewer mills and producing more is the standard for updates, but this project hides a technical singularity: the incorporation of a lithium ion battery system with 14.26 MW of power and 28.51 MWh of capacity. In fact, it is one of five projects by a Norwegian company to combine sun or wind and storage. only in the Spanish state. With a loading and unloading capacity of two hours, the park will be able to carry out peak shaving and energy shiftingor what is the same, smooth out production peaks and be able to move energy at times where it is needed or the price is higher. In addition to better peak management and improving efficiency, the company explains that this system will allow you to reinforce the security of supply. Why is it important. Because although there are fewer machines, power increases by 50% and production doubles. Furthermore, with this system the wind farm will function as if it were a bank: if there is excess energy, it will be stored for when the wind stops or there is high demand. In this way, it minimizes one of the endemic evils of renewable energy such as wind or solar, which depend on external and unrelated factors such as the climate. On the other hand, cleaning the horizon by almost decimating the number of wind turbines is also important from an environmental point of view. Finally, Statkraft has explained that will prioritize companies in the area in the construction of the project, which will directly generate employment in 2026. In Xataka | The solar miracle that went wrong: Spain produces more electricity than it can manage In Xataka | We have a problem with heat in buildings. A Navarrese investigation knows how to cool them without air conditioning Cover | Statkraft

the plan to turn Asturias into the great energy shipyard that Europe no longer knows how to build

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For decades, the West operated under a mirage: believing that making things was no longer relevant and that the future lay only in software. However, China has woken up Europe of that dream, showing him that national sovereignty depends, ultimately, on knowing how to melt metal. Now that “bath of reality” has just docked in Asturias. The Port of Gijón, El Musel, has ceased to be just a strategic enclave for local coal and steel to become the epicenter of a global ambition. The Asturian group Zima and the Chinese giant Dajin Offshore they have sealed an alliance to build a foundation plant for offshore wind. However, there is a problem and size does matter, a lot. The landing of a colossus. Dajin and Zima have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a facility that will not only manufacture components, but will function as a port for marshalling —the logistics area where these pieces are collected and pre-assembled—. As detailed in The Economistthe objective is to supply the European market and alleviate bottlenecks in the sector. Dajin is not just any actor. As detailed in local media, It is the largest Chinese private manufacturer of offshore wind structures. This alliance will reinforce the strategic role of the region in the European energy transition. The Gordian knot: the crisis of space. Zima’s initial project occupied 153,753 square meters on the North Pier. However, the entry of Dajin changes everything: the multinational need more space. Making XXL “monopiles” is not like making cars. According to technical data provided by Energetica21Dajin has the capacity to manufacture structures up to 12 meters in diameter, 120 meters in length and 2,500 tons in weight. “Moving and storing these steel cylinders requires massive esplanades that are currently compromised,” warn industry sources. in LNE. El Musel finds himself facing a puzzle. The land requested by Zima borders Ionway’s future battery plant. As LNE explainsthe Port Authority is studying with “the best disposition” how to meet this demand, either by extending towards the sea or looking for non-contiguous plots. An “Electrostate” in the Cantabrian Sea. To understand this project you have to look at the global context. Today, China builds 74% of the planet’s renewable energy. By settling in Gijón, Dajin brings what the West has lost: heavy industrial capacity. As Miquel Zorita, director of Zima, points out, in The Economistthe desire is to integrate local suppliers. This is vital because European wind turbine manufacturers such as Siemens Gamesa or Vestas are going through a deep profitability crisis. Chinese technology in Asturias could be the necessary oxygen ball, even if it is under a foreign flag. The industrial clock against the bureaucratic clock. The success of this operation will not be measured only in the millions of euros of investment or in the jobs created, but in the size of the facilities it will depend exclusively on the space they obtain in the port. Asturias has before it the opportunity to stop being a “quarry” of resources and become a center of high added value. But, as Craig Tindale’s thesis warnsa civilization that sacrifices its material base ends up losing its independence. Gijón is redesigning its map; Now it remains to be seen if El Musel has enough soil to support so much weight. Image | Bafpg and ShellAsp Xataka | Inspecting an offshore wind turbine no longer requires stopping it: the drone that uses AI to ‘x-ray’ moving blades

Spain wants to become a “bunker” for data centers with a very clear attraction: cheap energy

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Spain finds itself facing a historic opportunity. In the offices of big technology companies—from Amazon (AWS) until Microsoft or Google—the map of the Iberian Peninsula shines with its own light. The geographical location and the deployment of fiber optics have made the country the ideal candidate to be the great “cloud” of southern Europe. However, there is a toll: these data centers (DPCs) consume electricity at an industrial pace. Only the Community of Madrid investments are played worth 23.4 billion euros linked to these projects, while regions like Aragon see how the demand from these centers threatens to absorb half of all the energy they occurs in the community. But until now, Spain had a barrier to entry: an electrical regulation designed for steel foundries, not for servers. In order not to miss the investment train, the Government has decided to make a move and change the rules of the game. A change of rules in the BOE. The Ministry of Industry and Tourism has activated the legislative machinery. The goal is to allow data centers can access to the Statute of Electrointensive Consumers, a category that until now was reserved for large heavy industry and that allows receiving million-dollar compensation on the electricity bill. In fact, the first step is now official. Through a resolution of the Secretary of State for Industry published last January, the Government has eliminated with a stroke of a pen and as a matter of urgency the main technical obstacle for the 2026 campaign: the “off-peak” requirement. The previous regulations required companies to consume at least 46% of their electricity during the cheapest hours (generally at night) to receive aid. This, which works for a factory that can put on night shifts, is impossible for a data center that operates 24/7. The new resolution considers this requirement fulfilled for all applicants this year, a “technical amnesty” designed to facilitate the entry of new actors. However, it is not an isolated patch. In parallel, the Ministry has submitted to public consultation a Royal Decree Project to reform the Statute in a structural way. The text, whose hearing process has already included the sector’s allegations, explicitly recognizes that the current regulations have been ‘misaligned’ and need to be adapted to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the face of high energy prices. The end of the tyranny of the night. To understand the importance of this measure, you have to look at the sky. The old rule required consumption at night because, historically, that was when electricity was cheap. But the explosion of solar energy in Spain has changed the paradigm: now, the cheapest hours tend to occur at midday, when the sun shines brightly, generating what experts call the “duck curve” in prices. Maintaining the obligation to consume at night was not only a bureaucratic barrier for data centers, but also economic and ecological nonsense in the Spain of 2026. By eliminating this requirement, the Government not only helps technology companies, but also adapts the law to the reality of an electrical system dominated by renewables. Less bureaucracy and more compensation. The Government’s plan to seduce data centers does not consist of paying for their electricity directly, but rather of shielding them from indirect costs. The reform proposes two courses of action: money and simplification. Compensation of hidden charges: The new Statute will allow subsidizing costs that increase the bill but are not energy consumption, such as contributions to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE). According to industry sourcesthis charge is around 2 euros per megawatt hour and has a tendency to rise. Alleviating this burden is vital for technology companies’ numbers to turn out green. Administrative facilities: The entrance exam has been relaxed. Along with the elimination of off-peak hours, the BOE has set a new technical ratio (ratio between consumption and added value) of 0.61 kWh/€ by 2026. In addition, cumbersome requirements are eliminated, such as the requirement for very specific long-term renewal contracts, which generated a disproportionate administrative burden. The missing piece of the puzzle. Despite the red carpet rolled out by the Ministry, the sector remains cautious. From SpainDC, the association that brings together data centers in Spain, they value the elimination of the off-peak hour requirement as a “relevant advance”, but they warn that the party has only just begun and they still do not have the official invitation in hand. The problem is bureaucratic, but lethal: the CNAE (National Code of Economic Activity). To be an electro-intensive consumer, your activity must appear on a closed list of eligible sectors. If the Government reforms the technical requirements but does not expressly include the “Data Processing” code (6311) in that list, the reform will be a dead letter for them. “For data centers, the inclusion of the CNAE is a premise. Without it, certification is still not within our reach,” employers warn the Energy Newspaper. Added to this is the underground tension due to the capacity of the network: it is not enough for energy to be cheap, there must be “plugs” available. The Electrical Network It is saturated in key pointsand the sector demands urgent investments so that the promised megawatts actually reach the servers. A seduction in the testing phase. Spain has sent a clear message to international markets: it wants to be Europe’s great data warehouse and is willing to modify its sacred industry laws to achieve it. The BOE resolution for 2026 It is the test of faitha temporary safe passage to prevent the flight of investments. However, the ultimate success of the strategy depends on the fine print that is written in the coming months. If the structural reform of the Royal Decree ends up including data centers in the official list of beneficiary sectors, Spain will have completed its transformation: from a country of sun and sand, to a country of sun and data. Image | freepik Xataka | Meta is spending millions and millions of dollars convincing us of one thing: that data … Read more

Nuclear energy has generated electricity for decades. China is reinventing it for something else: the industry

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For decades, nuclear power plant cooling towers symbolized one thing: electricity. However, off the coast of Jiangsu province, China has just begun a maneuver that will change the usefulness of fission. It’s no longer just about turning on light bulbs; It is about feeding, with clean steam, the voracious thermal heart of heavy industry. The first concrete of a new era. According to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC)the first concrete was poured for the nuclear island of Unit 1 of the Xuwei project. This act is not just another procedure, it is the first nuclear project to break ground in the inaugural year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, symbolizing a strategic shift towards diversified energy applications. The project, developed by CNNC Suneng Nuclear Power, is strategically located near the Lianyungang petrochemical hub, an area that requires a staggering 13,000 tons of steam every hour to maintain its operations. The concept of the super boiler. Xuwei’s great innovation lies in its technical architecture. As explained by Global Timesthe project is the first in the world to couple two different generations of reactors to maximize thermal efficiency: The Hualong One (Generation III): Two units of this pressurized water reactor (PWR) provide the base heat to convert demineralized water to saturated steam. The High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR – Generation IV): This unit acts as a “super boiler”. The steam produced by the Hualong One is superheated a second time by the primary steam of the HTGR, reaching the necessary extreme temperatures. for complex chemical processes such as petroleum refining, distillation and cracking petrochemical. This “double coupling” system allows, according to NucNetthat the plant will be useful for applications ranging from refining to desalination and steel production, sectors that have traditionally depended exclusively on fossil fuels. Cleaner than coal. The urgency of this project responds to a critical climate need. The petrochemical industry is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize due to its constant heat demand. The figures provided by CNNC yvsupported by media such as World News Nuclear They are compelling: once the first phase is operational, the plant will supply 32.5 million tons of industrial steam per year. This will reduce standard coal consumption by 7.26 million tons and avoid the emission of 19.6 million tons of CO2 annually. Advances in cutting-edge technology. To manage the complexity of joining two very different types of reactors, Chinese engineers have turned to Artificial Intelligence and robotics. The design team used hierarchical digital simulations to create the system’s control logic, allowing heat and electricity to be balanced based on grid and industry demand. In the field of construction, progress is not minor. Li Quan, project manager, explained to Global Times that automatic metal active gas (MAG) welding systems with intelligent laser tracking are being used, a technology three times more efficient than manual welding. In addition, they emphasize that the localization rate of equipment (100% Chinese technology) exceeds 95%, promoting a national high-tech supply chain. Towards a global standard? Beyond its borders, China sees Xuwei as an export model. The CNNC has described the project as a “Chinese solution” for the low-carbon transformation of energy-intensive industries around the world. The goal is to demonstrate that heavy industrial development does not have to be tied to coal smokestacks. This move aligns with the 2025 white paper titled “China’s plans and solutions for carbon neutrality”which advocates for safe and orderly development of nuclear energy not only for the electrical gridbut for clean heating and desalination. The European contrast. While China is betting on nuclear energy to power heavy industry, in Europe the approach to waste heat is taking a digital path. Cities like Helsinki are finding an unexpected source of heat: data centers. As we have explained in Xatakacompanies like Telia or Microsoft are recovering up to 90% of the heat generated by their servers to inject it into district heating networks (district heating). A single data center in Finland can heat up to 20,000 homes. Although the scale is different – ​​China seeks heat to make steel and plastics, while Finland seeks shelter for its citizens – the philosophy is identical: in a world in climate crisis, wasting heat is a luxury that no one can afford anymore. Both models demonstrate that the energy transition depends on taking advantage of every calorie produced, whether it comes from a uranium core or an artificial intelligence processor. The end of thermal waste. The start of work in Xuwei marks a turning point. As the CNNC analysis concludesthe project is a “strong and clear beat” towards deep decarbonization. China is trying to show that nuclear power is the missing piece of the puzzle to reconcile mass industrial production with net-zero emissions goals. If Xuwei’s model is successful, the image of the nuclear power plant as an isolated island that only produces electricity will become history. The future of the atom seems to lie, rather, in its ability to become the invisible “heat engine” of modern civilization. Image | CNNC Xataka | In Finland they already know how to deal with excess heat from data centers: convert it into district heating

The future of energy lies in fusion, and China aims to light the first light bulb with the power of the Sun in 2030

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When we think of the future energyit is easy for us to think about renewables. Much of Europe has a while running with renewables, China is an expanding power and even some states in the United States They are seeing its benefits. However, the future lies in nuclear power. But not because of fission, but for the fusion. And China has just taken a giant step in the forecasts of its BEST program with a single objective. Replicate the process that powers the Sun. China and the ultimate energy. Fusion and fission are nuclear reactions that release energy from the nucleus of the atom, and That’s where their similarities end.. Briefly, fission consists of breaking the nuclei of heavy atoms such as uranium to release energy. It is the process that we use in current nuclear power plantsand decades ago we managed to make it something stable. Fusion is the reverse process: it joins light atoms to generate energy. It is tremendously unstable and the heat generated is enormous, but the process generates a much higher amount of energy. Imitate that star power It is extremely complex, but we have been trying to replicate it for years for a very simple reason: it is estimated that it will offer almost unlimited energy and long-lasting waste-freesomething against which nuclear fission can’t compete. China is one of the countries that is pushing the development of nuclear fusion plants the most, so much so that it intends to put the first plant into operation a decade before its competitors. EAST. It stands for ‘Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak’, an experimental program that China has been developing since 2006 to test the viability of commercial fusion energy. After setting some records for temperature and operating time, in 2021 achieved continuous plasma operation for 17 minutes in which the core operated at 70 million degrees Celsius. They are five times the sun temperature and, although temperatures of up to 160 million degrees were previously achieved for 20 seconds, the ideal is to maintain a very high temperature for as long as possible. Steps have continued to be taken and researchers recently discovered that the reactor could work at 165% of its maximum theoretical capacity without suffering disruptions. To contextualize, it is as if we have an engine designed to go at 200 km/h, but we discover that we can drive at 330 km/h constantly without it overheating. In short: China is taking steps to control the enormous challenge represented by the magnetic confinement of plasma. BEST. The ‘Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak’, for its part, is the spearhead of its nuclear fusion program. If EAST is the proof of concept, BEST is the demonstration of feasibility. The EAST steps are those that will be replicated in BEST, a reactor built on a larger scale that will operate for a shorter period of time in a sustained manner, but under conditions of greater energy gain. Goal: 2030. China began construction of the BEST in 2023 and hopes to complete it by 2027 to begin testing with plasma. If it goes well, the CFETR reactor will be the one that pours fusion energy into the grid. In a statement published by the state media Xinhuawe see that the intention is to generate electricity by 2030 and start do it commercially by 2035. If the goal is reached, China will be the first country that will be able to commercially emulate the power of the Sun to light the “first nuclear fusion light bulb” in history. Although, of course, the United States and Massachusetts They also say that they will be the first. They are not the only ones. If they reach the goal, it will be a fundamental step in achieving new generation energy, and they want to reach that future a decade before the rest of the countries, or so China suggests. In this race for nuclear fusion, the BEST is expected to begin operating commercially between 2030 and 2035. Meanwhile, in France there is the ITER. With 24,000 million euros in budgetis the most expensive international program in history, only surpassed by the Apollo Programthe International Space Stationhe Manhattan Project or the GPS system. It aims to be very powerful, but has constant delaysa budget that has overflowed and an operational date that has not been fulfilled. In the United States, a private startup is building SPARCmuch smaller than ITER, but more profitable. United Kingdom has the STEPJapan JT-60SA and Russia the T-15MD Hybrid. Talking about dates is complicated, since there were tests that were expected to be obtained in 2025 and were not achieved… and there is talk of between 2040 and 2060 for the commercial viability of this energy “from the stars”, although the calendars have been readjusted. China has turned new generation energy in a matter of stateand we will see if they meet their goal of starting production in 2030. And, although it seems that we have to put the artificial intelligence even in the soup, the enormous energy needs of this technology are encouraging advances in nuclear fusion. The joke that nuclear fusion energy always has 30 years to go may have come to an end. Images | Oak Ridge National LaboratoryNASA In Xataka | Europe is looking for where to put its first nuclear fusion reactor. And Spain is one of the best candidates

We believed that the US was facing a major energy shortage problem for AI. The data says the opposite

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To win the AI ​​race you need several things, but two are very important. The first, have the best technology and the best chips. The second, having enough energy to power those chips. The US has the first, but everything pointed to it having a major energy bottleneck. That is no longer so clear. China has plenty of energy. The China’s strategic visionwhich once again has been investing in the energy field for decades, is bearing fruit and the country has considerable room for maneuver in terms of energy supply. That is a factor that seems to tip the balance in its favor: Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, already warned that China can win the AI ​​race. According to him, China has more flexible regulation and its companies have government subsidies for the energy their data centers need. But the US has another philosophy. A deep study from the startup Epoch AI—responsible for FrontierMath AI benchmark— serves as a counterpoint to these pessimistic theories. In recent months we have seen how the US seems to have a real problem with the energy needed for AI data centers. China has not stopped increasing its energy generation capacity, but the US has not for a simple reason: until now it did not need it. Source: Epoch AI. However, Epoch AI explains that it is not that the US is not capable of creating more energy capacity: it simply has not needed it until now. While China has prepared for the future—even if that future does not come—the US has maintained a more conservative attitude: as long as there was no demand, it would not make any move. The immediate question, of course, is whether you can move it now or is it too late? And no, it doesn’t seem like it is. Forecast of necessary energy capacity for data centers in the US until 2030 according to different scenarios. In the worst of all of them (pink color), almost 80 GW of capacity will be needed. Source: Epoch AI. The demand is going to be huge. There is a reality: those ambitious plans to create more and more data centers throughout the US —with Project Stargate at the forefront—will cause data centers in the country to need between 30 and 80 GW of energy capacity in 2030. For those responsible for the study, it is perfectly possible that the US “gets its act together” – pun intended – and manages to increase its energy capacity. As? Various options. The US has room for maneuver. In order to supply all that energy that all those data centers will theoretically need, there are several clear alternatives according to the Epoch AI study: Natural gas: is relatively cheap and plants can be built quickly. There are three large companies that can cover this demand: GE Verona, Mitsubishi Heavy and Siemens. The plans of all of them point to a production of more than 200 GW in 2030. Even if they are not met, this supply (without being totally dedicated to AI) would already be an important part of the solution. Solar energy: the other big part of the solution, especially because its costs have fallen drastically and because it is very, very scalable. We have already seen how the US has the capacity to install 1,200 GW solar for IA thanks to its deserts, but at the moment Big Tech does not dare to use them. Once again, estimates point to around 200 GW of installed capacity in 2030, but even if these expectations are not met, this infrastructure will also be a clear part of the solution. Energy flexibility. The report also talks about a dynamic supply philosophy. Most of the time the US power grid is oversized for one simple reason: It is built to be able to supply power at peak peaks—like when everyone turns on the air conditioning—but most of the time there is plenty of power even to give to large AI data centers. This future infrastructure must be created with that same idea: oversized, but flexible. And there are other alternatives. The country is turning to energy solutions that it thought were buried to power data centers. Among them are the fossil plants that were theoretically going to close but that are returning to operation due to the astonishing increase in demand. There is also talk of going to military solutions and even more unusual alternatives, such as energy under volcanoes. Not to mention, of course, the nuclear power plants and the small nuclear reactors (SMR) that are already being used by some of the Big Tech for your data centers. Be careful with your electricity bill. The reality is that in the North American country data centers are growing faster than electrical infrastructure, and these facilities They are draining the country’s electricity. The situation is even causing electricity grid operators to ask be able to shut down data centers in times of high demand. And then there’s the other big side effect: AI data centers they are skyrocketing the electricity bill. When starting up an AI data center, power costs a tenth of what chips cost. Source: Epoch AI. There doesn’t seem to be a problem. Even with all those obstacles, Epoch AI’s conclusion is clear: “we doubt these challenges are significant enough to impede the scaling of AI.” In fact, they remember that what is actually expensive are the chips, not the energy, which represents a tenth of the investment in chips. The report concludes that China having an advantage is not necessarily true, and that the hypothetical US energy bottleneck “is much weaker than many people have indicated.” Image | Andrey Metelev In Xataka | Artificial intelligence has already reached nuclear power plants. And it’s going to change them forever

Quietly, Big Tech are ceasing to be exclusively technological companies to be something else: energy

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Big technology companies not only compete for AI engineers. Now they also do it by energy profiles. And it is no wonder, because without the electricity that powers mammoth data centers necessary for AI tools to remain operational, the AI ​​race slows down. A bottleneck. AI has become the strategic axis of Big Tech, but its biggest bottleneck is no longer the talent around its systems, but access to energy. Data centers training and running larger and larger models consume massive amounts of electricityand guaranteeing that supply has become a business priority. According to account According to CNBC, with data collected by Workforce.ai, the hiring of energy-related profiles grew by 34% year-on-year in 2024. Numbers. As the media reports, a similar jump also occurred last year, with a level of energy profile hiring 30% above that of 2022, just before the explosion of generative AI after the launch of ChatGPT. The main reason is structural, since data centers represented approximately 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024, after growing 12% in five years, according to data of the International Energy Agency. Everything indicates that this demand will continue to increase as new AI infrastructure is deployed. What profiles are you looking for?n the Big Tech. According to stands out the middle, Technology companies are looking for much more operational positions: experts in energy purchasing, electricity markets, grid connection and energy strategy. CNBC reports that these positions are directly linked to ensuring real supply, not only to improving the environmental image of companies. Furthermore, not everything is about guaranteeing supply at any cost, but also about ensuring that electricity can be obtained in the most efficient way possible. Who is winning the talent war. Amazon and Microsoft lead in volume of energy signings from 2022, according to point the middle. Amazon has more than 600 additions (including AWS), while Microsoft has more than 570. In the case of the latter, in 2024 signed Carolina Dybeck Happe, former chief financial officer of General Electric, as chief operating officer, a gesture that many interpret as a strategic commitment to integrate energy and management on a large scale. Google, for its part, has accelerated in recent months with more than 300 hires, incorporating profiles from both large energy companies and the academic world. Between the lines. The strategy is not limited to hiring people. Big tech is also buying other companies. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, agreed the acquisition of data center company Intersect for about 4.75 billion dollars. At the same time, they outsource key phases such as the construction of infrastructure, relying on temporary contracts to manage projects, land and works. The clash with the traditional energy sector. The medium too points outthrough data provided by specialized consulting firms, that more and more senior energy infrastructure professionals are considering making the leap into technology, attracted by higher salaries and projects linked to data centers. The problem is that the most in-demand profiles, such as energy strategy or grid connection, were already scarce in the traditional and renewable energy sector. This has led to a tighter and more competitive talent market. Not everything is direct absorption. Some analysts also see opportunities for electricity companies. Travis Miller, energy and utilities analyst at Morningstar, explains to CNBC that the magnitude of the demand makes it unfeasible for Big Tech to do everything on their own. In many cases, they will rely on traditional public service groups to develop infrastructure and operate networks, which can translate into new revenue and employment in the sector. And now what. The border between technology and energy is being diluted in a very interesting way. Meta, Amazon, Google or Microsoft already sign long-term power purchase agreements, even with nuclear projectsand some have requested permits to trade electricity and sell surpluses to the grid. “There are technology companies that are becoming energy companies,” account Daniel Smart, CEO of The Green Recruitment Company, in the middle. Of course, for now, only to feed its own AI. Cover image | Microsoft In Xataka | AI is creating a new paradigm of success: products that everyone uses but have to close due to lack of income

fusion energy no longer has a ceiling

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For four decades, nuclear fusion scientists have lived under the shadow of a figure: the Greenwald limit. Something that, in essence, is the “glass ceiling” of the reactors tokamak type and that supposedly prevents them from producing more energy than they could. But the one known as the China’s ‘artificial sun’ has broken this ceiling completely, and on top of it in a stable way (surpassing the European model). The Greenwald Wall. To understand the achievement, you must first understand the problem. In a fusion reactorthe power you generate depends on the square of the density, this way, The more density there is inside the reactor, the more energy it will produce.. However, in 1989 the physicist Martin Greenwald formulated a rule that has remained unbeaten: there is a maximum density. If this maximum density is exceeded, the plasma inside the reactor becomes unstable. What does this mean? Well, if this line is passed, the edge of the plasma cools down too much due to radiation, the electrical current contracts and the reactor suffers a disruptiona sudden stop that can even damage the reactor structure. Bordering the limit. In this way, nuclear physicists have always been very attentive to this limitsince exceeding it can generate great chaos in a nuclear power plant. But logically what is always sought is to get the most out of all the resources available, which is why they have always been working very close to this limit, but never without exceeding it. Until in the end it has been possible to overcome it and remove this limitation from the ‘speedometers’ of nuclear energy. The study. The researchers They have achieved this fact, as they have reported in their article published in Science Advancewhere they point out that they have managed to achieve stable densities of between 1.3 and 1.65 times the Greenwald limit. It was not by brute force, but by experimental “finesse”. Something that they have been able to achieve within the Chinese Artificial Sun. This means that the reactor has been able to work at 165% of its maximum theoretical capacity without suffering any disruption. It is as if we had discovered that an engine designed to go 200 km/h can travel at 330 km/h constantly and without overheating. How has he achieved it? The key has not been just to “put in more gas”, but to change the way in which the Artificial Sun interacts with its own walls. Unlike other reactors, the Chinese Artificial Sun has tungsten on its walls, which is a metal that withstands heat better and makes the plasma less dirty. In addition to this property of its walls, The researchers used high-power microwave waves to heat and “clean” the plasma just before ignition. This is in addition to the fact that they were able to validate a new theory that says that, under certain conditions, the plasma “organizes itself” to move away from the walls and remain stable, even if the density is extreme. Real energy. What China’s Artificial Sun has shown is that the “density-free” regime is real. This changes the rules of the game for ITER (the large international reactor being built in France) and for the future CFETRthe reactor with which China hopes to begin pouring fusion energy into the electrical grid before 2040. Its importance. With this new milestone, making giant reactors will no longer make sense, since with this new theory we no longer need gigantic machines to obtain the same energy. Furthermore, by operating in this new regime, the risk of plasma damaging the reactor is drastically reduced, since you will not be “playing” with the limit. But the most relevant thing is that it has been seen that the denser the plasma is, the closer we are to “ignition”, the point where the Artificial Sun generates more energy than it consumes. This may mean that we are closer to the longed for infinite energy. Images | Daniele La Rosa Messina POT In Xataka | China has discovered an energy source so massive it potentially lasts 60,000 years. The bad news: it’s thorium

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