National Grid CEO Zoe Yujnovich Talks Powering Microsoft Data Center

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**Dani Burger** (0:07)
AI is driving a surge in electricity demand, fueling billions of dollars in new energy infrastructure. UK utility National Grid is bedding on that demand with a $1.75 billion investment. And Joulent, the US developer, is helping power Microsoft's data centers in Texas. Joining us now is the National Grid CEO, Zoe Yujnovich. Zoe, so great to see you. And look, this is a really interesting idea.
I wonder if in some ways this does represent a pivot, that for utilities, the most important thing that you need to add capability, that you need to add investment in, is around AI versus kind of traditional electricity demand.

**Zoe Yujnovich** (0:48)
Yeah, I mean, firstly, thanks for having me, Dani. It's great to be here, especially on such an exciting day for us. National Grid has long been invested in delivering energy through long-term infrastructure to our customers. And so in some respects, you could say this is exactly what this acquisition that we've invested in today is all about. But to your point, we are now facing that sector of the market that is growing so rapidly. I mean, the increase in power demand coming from data centers, and just more generally from the AI evolving economy, it's an exciting place for us to find ourselves.

**Dani Burger** (1:23)
It feels like it's really rewriting things, really quickly, Zoe. And I wonder how far away you think we are from being able to keep up with the demand from it.

**Zoe Yujnovich** (1:34)
Well, that's why I think this investment is so important for us. What we've done in investing in Joulent, which is a technology-enabled energy company, is find ways to actually bring the very best that we can across different sectors to harness that innovation and get the right solutions so that we can actually get speed and scale power to customers really quickly. And if you take a look at the specific project that we're developing, Project Kilby, you can actually bring the very best of the cultural opportunities from Microsoft, from an energy major like Chevron, through Joulent, who's brought that innovation together. And that's what's giving us, I think, a real advantage, real pace to deliver the power, but also the opportunity to scale that over time.

**Dani Burger** (2:19)
You know, I myself lived in London for about seven years. I'm very familiar with National Grid. But to see you coming over into the US itself is an interesting turn. Do you think this is the start of many more opportunities for you in America?

**Zoe Yujnovich** (2:35)
It's interesting, Dani, most people aren't aware, but we already have quite a significant scaled position in the US.
We are servicing already both the LDCs, the local distribution companies, the gas, in both Massachusetts and New York. And of course, we have a very big presence there around our electric utilities as well. So we have in our five-year horizon, as an example, about 70 billion pounds. So let's say between 90 to sort of 95 billion US dollars, of which we have about 40% of that being invested in the Northeast of the US. So we've got great capability, not just across the broader company, but already in the US that helps us to bring momentum behind this acquisition that we're announcing today.

**Dani Burger** (3:18)
There are many who are, you know, trying to see the opportunity like you do, Zoe, and trying to provide energy and different utility to data center projects. Is there any part of the market you think looks frothy?

**Zoe Yujnovich** (3:31)
Look, I think what we have found is that whilst the numbers of data center in the queue are significant, that the drivers behind needing this speed to power continue to be solidified in all of the conversations that we're having. And so of course we have conversations across many of our jurisdictions, both with data center developers but also with the tech companies that sit behind. And I think it really is a challenging domain and it's really about pace. And I think what's exciting about this investment that we're making, it's really through the Joulent vehicle finding a way to crack that equation. It's about speed, but it's also about doing speed at scale. And I think that's what's most exciting. And that's the unlock, I would say, around underpinning those that are real projects that really want to put money behind investing versus those that perhaps are more speculative and seeing what might pan out.

**Dani Burger** (4:24)
How do you deal with the politics of the situation, Zoe? I was just looking, there is even a lawsuit this morning around AI, very, very different from energy and what you're doing, but specifically around Albertsons and Walmart, using AI algorithms to determine the price of gasoline at their pumps. I mean, there is this real deep backlash occurring in the United States right now about this fear, AI is going to be driving up my utility bills. How do you navigate that environment, especially ahead of the midterms, when politicians are taking note?