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Comment by fcantournet | Hacker News Reader

1 Gigawatt * 1 year = 8760 GWh * 0.8 load factor * $0.2 per kWh = $1.35B of only electricity.

They're paying way under 20 cents a kWh. They're paying less per kWh than residential households. If the residential rate in an area was 20 cents, I'd guess the datacenter is paying 40-60% of that rate

They get bulk discounts because their load is 24x7, so the fixed costs covered by a per kWh charge is spread over many more kWh than a residential customer

Is it true that that load is constant? Aren't these user facing services and tied to user hours instead of constantly crunching?

Well, that is a good point. No the load isn't 100% constant but it's much more constant and they're using way more energy than a residential user so the "bulk discount" thesis still applies

For DCs doing training, their load is constant as long as training is happening. But as soon as they end a run, their load can disappear quickly. This is actually a problem, as the grid and generators are not designed to see massive amounts of load go away instantly

Several system operators are working on new guidelines about these large loads, and they're working on ways and regulations such that these loads have to ride out grid instability and not just disappear without warning

They can fill the rest with offline tasks like batched API requests and training.

Yes, and that is small compared to the building cost.

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