The Electric Power Research Institute on Tuesday unveiled an initiative to “explore how data centers can support the electric grid, enable better asset utilization, and support the clean energy transition.”
On the tech side, founding members of the “DCFlex” project include Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Compass Datacenters and QTS Data Centers. Energy participants include Constellation Energy, Duke Energy, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the New York Power Authority, NRG Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric, PJM Interconnection, Portland General Electric, Southern Co. and Vistra.
“We continue to work alongside our peers and utility providers to advance new opportunities for digital infrastructure. Efforts like EPRI’s DCFlex initiative are critical to these cross-industry efforts,” said Bryce Dalley, director of commercial energy supply at Meta.
After about two decades of stagnant electricity load growth, industrial onshoring, electrification and the adoption of artificial intelligence are driving greater demand. Data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030, up from 4% today, according to EPRI.
“Flexible data center design and operation is a key strategy for accelerating AI development and realizing its benefits while minimizing costs, lowering carbon emissions, and enhancing system reliability,” EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor said in a statement.
DCFlex will “coordinate real-world demonstrations of flexibility” between data centers and electricity markets, “creating reference architectures and providing shared learnings to enable broader adoption of flexible operations that benefit all electricity consumers,” the nonprofit energy research group said.
The initiative will look to deploy five to 10 “flexibility hubs” that can demonstrate “innovative data center and power supplier strategies,” beginning in the first half of next year, EPRI said. The project could run through 2027.
“The DCFlex initiative is another example of how industry leaders can leverage data centers as a flexible resource on the grid to help address peak loads,” said Marc Spieler, head of global business development and strategy for the energy industry at NVIDIA.
“New electric demand from AI-driven data centers offers tremendous potential for all our customers in California,” said PG&E Corp. CEO Patti Poppe. “DCFlex is exactly the kind of collaboration needed to ensure we meet this demand in ways that also help us provide clean, affordable, and reliable energy for all.”
