紐時賞析／川普和各州抑制AI推高電費

提供人工智慧運算能力的數據中心建設推動全美各地電費增加。紐約時報

Limits Eyed on A.I.-Driven Electricity Bill Increases

川普和各州抑制AI推高電費

The Trump administration announced Friday that it would work with states to ensure that the nationwide artificial intelligence race does not drive up the costs of electricity for millions of Americans.

川普政府週五宣佈，將與各州合作，確保全國人工智慧競賽不會讓數百萬美國人多付電費。

Federal officials said they would push PJM, the largest grid operator, to strike deals with top technology companies to ensure that the bill for boosting the nation’s power supply falls on the likes of Facebook, Google and OpenAI, not individuals.

聯邦官員表示，他們會推動美國最大電網營運商PJM和頂尖科技公司達成協議，確保提升全國電力供應的成本由臉書、谷歌和OpenAI等公司承擔，而非個人。

The demand for electricity — along with the price — has soared as Silicon Valley pours billions of dollars into the construction of power-hungry data centers to enable its ambitions in AI. The average electricity bill jumped by 5% in October compared with the same month one year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.

隨着矽谷投入數十億美元興建耗電量極大的資料中心來落實人工智慧的雄圖，電力需求與電價都大幅飆升。根據能源資訊署資料，去年10月平均電費比前一年同期上漲5%。

But experts said the Trump administration’s plans were unlikely to lower prices quickly because it may take time to address the matter through regulation. Even then, it could be years before investments actually translate into greater electricity production, lowering consumers’ bills.

但專家表示，由於透過監管解決這個問題需要時間，川普政府的計劃不太可能快速降低電費價格。即使如此，投資真正轉變爲更大的電力產量、降低消費者電費，可能需要耗時數年。

The White House directive appeared to hinge on the participation of technology giants and PJM, which serves all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, a swath of that includes the largest concentration of data centers in the United States. The Trump administration and state leaders said they wanted to see PJM protect ratepayers from price increases.

白宮這項指示看來仰賴科技巨頭與PJM的配合，PJM負責供電範圍涵蓋13個州全部或部分地區以及哥倫比亞特區，這片區域擁有美國最密集的資料中心。聯邦政府與各州領導人都表示，希望PJM能保護用電戶不受電價上漲影響。

Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said in a statement that the goal was to ensure that the government was “powering the mid-Atlantic and part of the Midwest’s future without charging its citizens a cent.”

內政部長柏根在聲明中表示，目標是讓政府點亮中大西洋地區與中西部部分地區未來，民衆電費一分不漲。

PJM was reviewing the administration’s plans, said Jeff Shields, a spokesperson for the grid operator, adding that it was not invited to an event Friday at the White House.

PJM發言人希爾茲表示，公司正在審視政府的計劃，並補充說他們並未受邀參加週五在白宮舉行的活動。

Voters have cited the cost and local impact of data centers as a top issue in recent elections, and the White House is scrambling to convince the public that the economy is trending in a positive direction.

在近期的選舉中，選民把資料中心的成本與對地方的影響列爲最重要議題之一，白宮正急於說服民衆經濟正往好的方向發展。

On Tuesday, Microsoft said it had asked local regulators to “set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers,” a move that Trump later heralded, as he promised more action to bring down costs.

微軟週二表示，他們已要求當地監管機構「將該公司電費費率設定高到足以涵蓋我們數據中心的電費」。川普之後讚揚此舉並承諾採取更多行動降低成本。

文／Tony Romm，譯／羅方妤

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