AI's Power Thirst Spurs New Alliance for Energy-Smart Computing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 15, 2026 – As artificial intelligence becomes woven into the fabric of the global economy, its staggering and rapidly growing energy consumption is placing unprecedented strain on power grids and data center finances. Addressing this looming crisis, energy orchestration platform PADO and AI infrastructure specialist VESSL have announced a partnership to pioneer what they call the industry’s first “energy-oriented” MLOps solution, designed to intelligently manage power-hungry AI workloads.

The collaboration, backed by LG Electronics’ innovation arm LG NOVA, aims to synchronize intensive computing tasks with the availability of cheaper, cleaner energy, promising to slash operational costs, reduce carbon footprints, and even create new revenue streams for data center operators caught in the AI energy crunch.

The Soaring Energy Cost of Intelligence

The AI boom is fueling an energy demand surge of historic proportions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global data center electricity consumption, largely driven by AI, could more than double by 2030, potentially reaching over 900 terawatt-hours—an amount comparable to the entire annual electricity consumption of countries like Germany. Some analysts project AI could account for up to half of all data center electricity use by 2028.

This insatiable appetite for power is creating a critical bottleneck. Utilities are struggling to build new generation and transmission capacity fast enough, with Gartner predicting that 40% of AI data centers will face operational constraints due to power shortages by 2027. The immense, concentrated loads from new hyperscale facilities are stressing local grids, forcing costly upgrades that can drive up electricity prices for all consumers. In some US markets, data center growth has already been linked to billions of dollars in anticipated grid-related costs.

For data center operators, electricity is often the single largest operational expense, sometimes accounting for 60% of total spending. With AI workloads driving up both consumption and electricity prices, this financial pressure is becoming acute. The environmental toll is equally stark, with AI’s carbon footprint and massive water consumption for cooling systems drawing increased scrutiny from regulators and the public.

A New Blueprint for Sustainable AI

The PADO-VESSL partnership introduces a novel approach to mitigate these challenges by embedding energy awareness directly into the AI development and deployment pipeline. Their joint solution combines two critical technologies into a unified layer that can be deployed without overhauling existing infrastructure.

PADO, a venture launched by LG NOVA, provides grid-aware workload scheduling. Its platform analyzes real-time energy market data, including electricity pricing and the availability of renewables on the grid. This allows it to automatically identify the most opportune moments to run heavy computational tasks, shifting demanding AI model training or inference jobs to times when power is cheapest and greenest.

VESSL AI complements this with its infrastructure-agnostic orchestration platform, which manages AI workloads across diverse environments, including multiple public clouds and on-premise servers. By integrating PADO’s grid intelligence, VESSL’s platform can dynamically route workloads not just based on traditional metrics like cost and performance, but also on energy efficiency and carbon intensity. An AI training job, for instance, could be automatically moved from a data center in a region powered by fossil fuels to one in a region experiencing a surplus of solar or wind power.

“We are now entering an era where AI tools are as commonplace as the Internet, signaling an increasingly limitless appetite for this transformative technology from businesses and consumers alike,” said Wannie Park, CEO and Co-Founder of PADO. “However, the amount of energy it consumes is driving critical strain on our grid and energy prices, heightening urgency for more flexible and energy-smart compute orchestration. Leveraging VESSL’s unparalleled compute stack management, our partnership makes it possible for AI momentum to continue while addressing consumer priorities for improved energy efficiency.”

From Cost Center to Profit Engine

Beyond simply reducing costs and environmental impact, the partnership aims to transform data centers from passive energy consumers into active, profitable participants in the energy market. By enabling flexible compute—the ability to shift or curtail workloads in response to external signals—the platform allows data center operators to monetize their infrastructure in new ways.

This includes participating in grid services like demand response, where they are compensated for reducing power consumption during peak hours to help stabilize the grid. Operators could also engage in energy arbitrage by running workloads when electricity is cheap and selling excess capacity or power back to the grid when prices are high. This flexible approach turns a data center's largest liability—its energy bill—into a potential source of revenue and a strategic asset for grid stability.

This capability is crucial as it offers a powerful financial incentive for adopting sustainable practices, aligning the economic goals of data center operators with the broader societal need for a more resilient and cleaner energy infrastructure.

The Evolution of AI's Digital Backbone

The collaboration represents a critical evolution in the infrastructure underpinning the AI revolution. As AI models become more complex and widespread, the limitations of legacy systems—which are often rigid and blind to energy dynamics—become increasingly apparent. The static approach of running workloads wherever and whenever they are submitted is no longer sustainable at scale.

“AI’s steep progression is underscoring the increasingly tangible challenges with regard to both infrastructure complexity and energy consumption due to lack of flexibility in legacy systems,” said Jaeman An, CEO and Founder of VESSL AI. “PADO’s unique ability to optimize where and when compute runs based on grid signals, economic incentives and reliability requirements makes for an ideal VESSL partner to address both obstacles and redefine workload management as AI becomes omnipresent.”

The strategic backing from LG NOVA underscores the significance of this shift. By investing in PADO, LG is signaling its belief that intelligent energy orchestration is not a niche feature but a foundational component for the future of technology. This move aligns with a broader industry push toward creating a more efficient, resilient, and sustainable digital backbone capable of supporting the next wave of innovation without overwhelming the planet's resources. As AI's growth continues unabated, this pivot towards intelligent, energy-aware computing may soon become an absolute necessity for the entire industry.