Nuclear energy is faltering, and artificial intelligence isn't able to intervene and salvage it.

In the heart of Nevada, a groundbreaking development is taking shape. Redwood Energy, a leading battery recycler, has unveiled a 100% solar-powered microgrid in Sparks, showcasing a promising alternative to the ongoing debate about nuclear energy.

The microgrid, a self-contained system that requires no grid connection and few, if any, approvals, is based on common commodities and boasts inherent safety, silence, automation, virtually water- and maintenance-free operation, zero emissions, portability, and durability. It is profiting from its own production, a stark contrast to the traditional nuclear power industry.

At the centre of this innovation is a 10 MW-AC solar power plant, capable of delivering ultrareliable 24/7/365 power. This all-solar power system, built in just four months, is more reliable than grid power and cheaper than the utility's 8¢/kWh retail price.

The microgrid's storage system utilises novel power electronics and software to meld diverse batteries into 63 MWh of storage with a 2-48-hour nominal duration. It employs water-recovering Roomba-like crawlers to clean solar panels and 800 battery packs from retired or crashed cars for storage.

One of the microgrid's most significant features is its ability to run modular Crusoe data centers onsite, eliminating transmission costs, losses, and approvals. In fact, the solar power plant can be committed to build only when the data center's construction is mostly done.

While a campaign is underway to revive the "nuclear renaissance" in the industry, the microgrid's success highlights the challenges faced by nuclear power. Like fossil fuels, nuclear power faces uncompetitive costs, runaway competitors, dwindling profits, and uncertain demand.

Moreover, the growth of renewables is undeniable. In May alone, China added 93 GW of solar, or 3 GW per day. Soaring renewables now generate three times more global electricity than stagnant nuclear power. In 2023-24, China added 197 times more solar and wind than nuclear capacity, at half the cost.

Renewables are expected to power data-center growth 10-20 times over, while Bloomberg NEF predicts over 100. The International Energy Agency expects data centers to cause only a tenth of global electricity demand growth to 2030, doubling their share of usage to 3%.

Despite these advancements, renewables are still dismissed as "intermittent." However, the microgrid's solar panels are laid flat on level ground and can be scaled up to run most existing data centers, addressing this common criticism.

Amidst this shift, it's worth noting that few, if any, vendors have made profits selling reactors, only fueling and fixing them. Political interference in nuclear licensing is eroding public confidence, and politicians are considering socializing nuclear investments, weakening safety regulations, suppressing market competition, and commanding military reactor and data-center projects as a national-security imperative.

In contrast, Amory Lovins, an engineering professor at Stanford and the cofounder and chairman emeritus of RMI, teaches that past failures in the nuclear industry will not recur. However, he claims that new nuclear designs are not safe enough to waive nuclear energy's unique exemption from accident liability, and that they are claimed to be so safe that normal precautions are not necessary.

Furthermore, proposed smaller reactors cost more per kWh, produce more nuclear waste per kWh, and often need more-concentrated fuel directly usable for nuclear weapons. These factors, combined with the success of the Sparks microgrid, cast doubt on the need for a nuclear renaissance.

As the world moves towards a more sustainable future, the microgrid in Sparks, Nevada, serves as a beacon of hope, demonstrating the potential of renewable energy to power our data centres and challenge the status quo in the energy industry.