For more than a decade, Black & Veatch’s annual electric report has provided in-depth analysis of data compiled from hundreds of utility stakeholders, highlighting strategic priorities and forecasting future trends. Reflecting on past issues -- and the signposts they uncovered -- reveals just how far the industry has progressed towards decarbonization, sustainability and resiliency.
If the 2024 Electric Report stays true to its history, leading indicators point to data centers having a sizable impact on the already rising load growth from electrification and revitalized manufacturing. New artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and their power demand five to 10 times greater than traditional data centers are compounding the data center power demand boom. Black & Veatch’s recent webinar, Future-Ready Data Centers When Power Is an Obstacle, mentioned data centers growing to 2 to 3 gigawatts (GW) of power.
Data centers not only require more power, but data center developers and tech leaders want it fast. Data centers’ construction timeline is 18 months or less from groundbreaking to operation, much quicker than the typical three- to seven-year wait list for utility power. Taking matters into their own hands, our data center clients are building their own substations and asking about onsite power generation or working with independent power producers (IPPs) to meet their demands for reliable, scalable power now.
According to the report, 45% of respondents say they have no confidence or are not very confident in their forecasting for data center loads, while another 40% said providing load clarity would improve the speed of their project getting completed. Both stats reveal an opportunity for utilities and data centers to work together to meet near- and long-term capacity needs. Planning/forecasting uncertainty showed up again in the survey, where 23% of respondents listed this among their top three most challenging issues facing the electric industry in their region today.
One of the report’s more interesting revelations came from this same question. Both renewable energy and aging infrastructure tied for the top spot for the most challenging issues; each got 25% of responses, emphasizing the dual challenge of accommodating renewable energy when grappling with aging infrastructure. Environmental regulations and planning/forecasting uncertainty followed, and for the first time, lack of skilled workforce made the top five.
Will the Widening Skills Gap Impact Utility Response to Skyrocketing Demand?
In the recent webinar, Solving the Workforce Gap: How to Optimize Grid Project Execution, the panel discusses how these challenges are fueling the current workforce demand to help utilities build a stronger, more sustainable grid.
Grid projects are becoming programs, larger in scale and beyond what utilities’ internal resources can manage, making resource planning critical to understanding the best approach to executing a major project. The webinar emphasizes the importance of being proactive, and despite these challenges there are opportunities for utilities to adapt, such as engaging your engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partners early to help plan, manage and secure supplies and resources. Investing in training, apprenticeships and readying the workforce for digitalization and technological innovation were just a few other methods mentioned but highlight the forward thinking needed to navigate this period of extraordinary change.
