National Grid, Nebius and Emerald hail datacentre power throttling | Computer Weekly

"Over five days in December 2025, more than 200 real-time simulated "grid events" were sent to the site to test the Emerald software's ability to dynamically adjust the datacentre's power consumption. Emerald AI's platform was able to adjust power use to the requested level and cut demand by up to 40% while critical workloads ran as normal."

"Key results included successfully reacting to spikes in demand during half time at football matches, followed by load-reduction requests for up to 10 hours that demonstrated an ability to help the grid navigate periods of low wind or extreme heat, and simulated a system stress event that saw it shed 30% of load in 30 seconds to help maintain grid resilience."

"The aim is that AI datacentres can avoid being simply a source of electricity constraint to being more controllable in relation to the electricity grid, by managing peaks, making better use of existing infrastructure, and supporting the connection of different sources of energy to the grid."

National Grid conducted a five-day trial with Nebius datacentre operator using Emerald AI's software to manage power consumption across 96 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs. Over 200 simulated grid events tested the system's ability to dynamically adjust electricity usage. The software successfully reduced demand by up to 40% during peak periods, responded to demand spikes during football matches, managed 10-hour load reductions, and shed 30% of load in 30 seconds during simulated stress events. These capabilities could enable AI datacentres to contribute over 2GW of capacity back to the grid when needed, transforming them from electricity constraints into controllable resources that support grid stability and renewable energy integration.

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