FORTUNE: Companies like OpenAI are sucking up power at a historic rate. One startup thinks it has found a way to take pressure off the grid

The numbers are nothing short of staggering. Take Sam Altman, Open AI’s CEO. He reportedly wants 250 gigawatts of new electricity—equal to about half of Europe’s all-time peak load—to run gigantic new data centers in the U.S. and elsewhere worldwide by 2033.