New Forum Coordinates AI Power Demand Research
The invitation-only AI-Power Exchange brings regulators and researchers together as AI-driven electricity demand grows, with no published results yet.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Data Centers
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EPRI launched the AI-Power Exchange (APEX) on November 3, 2026, as a global, invitation-only stakeholder engagement platform. The platform is announced, not yet demonstrated, and convenes senior leaders from regulators, national laboratories, universities, government agencies, international organizations and public-benefit groups.
Why it matters
AI-driven electricity demand is climbing in step with rapid AI growth, and data centre investment has raised concerns about local power systems, prices, emissions and water use. APEX aims to reduce fragmentation and duplication among the groups working on these questions and to speed the exchange of research on AI and the power system.
The IEA projection that 35% electrification by 2035 is within reach frames the scale of the demand challenge. The source gives no benchmark for APEX itself, and its effectiveness has not been measured.
The players
EPRI
The Electric Power Research Institute, founded in 1972, runs research programs on grid technology and is leading the DCFlex data-center flexibility initiative.
NERC
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation sets and enforces reliability standards for the continent's bulk power system and co-chairs APEX.
IEA
The International Energy Agency is an intergovernmental energy analysis body whose electricity systems division co-chairs APEX.
The details
APEX works as a structured dialogue space: select representatives from regulatory bodies, national laboratories, universities, government agencies, international organizations and public-benefit organizations meet and exchange research and insights. Its co-chairs are Howard Gugel of NERC and Maria Sicilia of the IEA. The design connects communities that often work separately, so overlapping studies on AI and grid operation can be identified and shared rather than repeated.
Timeline
November 3, 2026: EPRI announces the launch of APEX.
2035: Target year for the international goal of 35% electrification.
The Tech Race
APEX sits alongside EPRI's DCFlex initiative, which tests data centers as flexible grid resources, and the Open Power AI Consortium, which is building energy-domain AI tools. Together these efforts form a multi-track approach to power-system AI, with APEX covering the regulatory and policy side.
APEX is an invitation-only platform, so the source gives no route for general readers to join. Any change to electricity prices, emissions or water use from data-center growth would reach the public only after the research and policy work it enables.
The takeaway
APEX shows that the grid implications of AI are now being organized as a multi-stakeholder problem rather than left to individual companies. Watch whether the platform publishes outputs from its co-chaired dialogue, since its value will depend on results rather than launch announcements.
Further reading
For more on how AI load is reshaping grid planning, see Data Centers.
More information
Read the APEX platform information page from EPRI.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Manila times.
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