The rapid spread of digital technologies will send the world’s energy needs soaring in the next few years. An opportunity for MAN Energy ­Solutions’ four-stroke engines.

Datacenters are extremely energy-hungry and demand is set to increase further in the future. They already consume around two percent of all the electricity generated worldwide. The industry even expects a further growth rate of 12 percent a year up to 2030. This is because of the rapid spread of digital technologies like artificial intelligence. The processing power for an AI request to ChatGPT requires 10 times more electricity than a simple Google search. That is why AI electricity consumption in 2030 will be around 200 terrawatt hours a year higher than in 2023. Grid operators and regulatory authorities are therefore insisting that datacenters establish their own energy supply so as to reduce the burden on public grids – a new market that MAN Energy Solutions also wants to break into. Colleagues in Power are being supported by a large-scale marketing campaign, which got under way in March.

Reliability and climate action

One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the power supply is absolutely reliable, as datacenters are so vital to modern life that any outage can have catastrophic consequences. The operators are therefore investing in redundant and uninterrupted power supply systems. They are also paying increasing attention to ecological footprint and keeping energy generation as climate-neutral as possible. According to Tilman Tütken (Strategic Projects & Key Account Management), this plays into MAN Energy ­Solutions’ hands: “Our four-stroke engines are ideal for these requirements. They have demonstrated their reliability over thousands of hours of operation, including in the case of critical infrastructure like nuclear power plants, where they act as emergency generators. And they can run on a wide range of fuels, making them climate-friendly.”

First project in Ireland

We will soon be showing what our engines can do with a project in Ireland. Sustainable Development Capital LLP engaged us to supply six type 18V51/60DF engines, which were shipped to Dublin in February 2025. The grid-connected plant for the datacenter in Grange Castle Business Park is designed to step in at times of peak load and balance possible fluctuations in the power grid, which can occur as a result of the increasing integration of renewable energies. The engines are optimized to run on liquid and gaseous fuels, with the changeover between the fuel types happening at the press of a button, as it were. “The order is part of a series of projects in Ireland. All in all, we are supplying 16 engines for three new power plants with a combined generating capacity of 311 MW,” says Tütken.