National Grid, the UK’s high-voltage electric power transmission network, has signed a strategic partnership with Emerald AI, an Nvidia-backed AI grid orchestration startup, to demonstrate how AI data centers can work in tandem with the transmission network to support flexibility across the grid.

Under the terms of the partnership, the two companies will undertake a live demonstration in the UK to showcase Emerald AI’s Emerald Conductor program. The demonstration is scheduled for late 2025 and will utilize Nvidia GPUs to adjust energy consumption of data centers to support grid stability.

Speaking to DCD earlier this year, Varun Sivaram, founder and CEO of Emerald AI, provided an overview of the system, stating: “Emerald Conductor is an AI for AI—it’s an intelligence that enables us to orchestrate the way we use AI data centers.

“The platform consists of many modules that together allow us to forecast, ingest grid information, accept signals from utilities, and orchestrate data center workloads in real time.”

The demonstration project aims to showcase how a wide variety of AI workload types can be adjusted in real-time. The company will achieve this by changing its computing activity when the grid is under pressure, thereby demonstrating that AI data centers can act as responsive partners to the electricity network while maintaining performance standards for mission-critical workloads.

“Together with National Grid, we’re proving that flexible AI Factories can accelerate AI innovation in the UK while enhancing reliability and affordability for everyone connected to the grid,” said Sivaram.

In addition, the partnership aims to advance technical standards for AI data center flexibility, collaborate with customers to bring this capability to the growing pipeline of UK data centers, and foster broader industry collaboration through the NextGrid Alliance. The companies claim that the agreement will support the UK in positioning itself as a global leader in AI and reduce the need for further transmission infrastructure by increasing the utilization of existing infrastructure.

“This groundbreaking trial with Emerald AI demonstrates how innovative technologies can help us optimize the grid, enable increased investment in advanced computing, and deliver real benefits to the wider UK economy. We’re excited to collaborate with Emerald AI and other partners as we progress this project, exploring how smart solutions can support economic growth and the nation’s future connectivity needs,” said Steve Smith, chief strategy and regulation officer at National Grid.

Emerald AI emerged from stealth earlier this year following the successful raise of $24.5 million in seed funding with backing from NVentures and Radical Ventures.

The company’s flagship product, the Emerald Conductor program, is designed to act as a mediator between the grid and data centers, orchestrating AI workloads in real-time. This enables data centers to dynamically adjust their energy consumption, supporting grid stability while ensuring acceptable AI compute performance.

The program has already been tested as part of a demonstration project conducted in conjunction with EPRI’s DCFlex Initiative in Phoenix, Arizona.

The project, conducted in conjunction with Oracle, Nvidia, EPRI, and the utility Salt River Project, demonstrated that an AI compute cluster utilizing GPUs in a commercial data center can reduce power usage by 25 percent for three hours during periods of high grid demand, such as peak summer load events.

The company is a member of the Nvidia Inception program for startups and is also backed by Google’s chief sustainability officer, Kate Brandt. The deal with National Grid is its first outside the US market.

National Grid is currently undertaking a massive upgrade of the UK’s transmission system, in part to meet the expected surge in demand from AI data centers. Last year, it unveiled plans to invest upwards of £35 billion ($44.1bn) in the UK transmission system over the next five years.

The network operator recently commenced construction on a new large-scale substation in Buckinghamshire, which is expected to supply electricity to more than 12 new data centers. Once built, it will be the largest substation in the country.