UC San Diego to Test Innovative Power Technology for AI Data Centers

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing will serve as the testing ground for a new $8.48 million California Energy Commission (CEC) funded project that could transform how AI data centers receive and manage electricity.

The project will make SDSC one of the first operational AI data centers in the United States to demonstrate a new power architecture designed to reduce energy waste, lower costs, and improve grid reliability. Beyond the technology itself, the initiative also includes what the project team describes as one of California's first equity-centered data center workforce development efforts, creating pathways into careers in the rapidly growing AI and energy infrastructure sectors.

Meeting the Growing Energy Demands of AI

As artificial intelligence continues to expand, so does the energy required to support it. Computers powering AI have become dramatically more energy intensive. A single rack of AI hardware can require up to 50 times more electricity than a conventional server rack installed just a few years ago.

The challenge is not only how much power these systems consume, but also how that power is delivered. Traditional data centers rely on multiple conversion stages before electricity reaches computing equipment, with each step wasting some energy as heat.

To address this problem, the UC San Diego team is working with industry leaders to develop a power delivery system that eliminates many of those conversion stages. The SDSC-based project will provide a testbed for electricity to move more directly and efficiently from the grid to the computing equipment.

“This research has the potential to fundamentally transform how AI data centers interact with the electric grid,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “By cutting costs and shrinking our environmental footprint, it paves the way for sustainably scaling this critical technology.”

A Smarter Path from Grid to Rack

At the heart of the project is San Diego-based Alderbuck Energy, whose team develops power conversion and intelligent energy management solutions for data centers and other large-load customers. Alderbuck’s bidirectional solid-state transformer (SST), which converts medium-voltage alternating current directly into 800-volt direct current through a single compact device, will play a big role in the new CEC-funded project. By simplifying the power delivery chain, the team expects the system to improve efficiency, reduce equipment requirements and lower installation and operating costs. The project aims to serve two megawatts of AI computing load while reducing the footprint of power equipment by more than 50% and achieving projected energy savings of approximately 25%.