The data center industry is one of the most dynamic at the moment, with the global need for such solutions bringing substantial investments in this sector. Throughout the world, important projects are anticipated, and this sector is constantly growing. However, companies have slowly started to look for ways they could conserve energy for their data centers and even feed the grid—thus giving life to the concept of data centers as energy providers.
The Energy Requirements of Data Centers
Data centers consume a lot of power because of cloud computing, AI programs, and the need to keep online services running constantly. Experts think that by 2030, data centers might use between 4.6% and 9.1% of all the electricity made in the United States. Right now, they use about 4%, according to a report by the Electric Power Research Institute.
This quick jump in power use comes from more people using AI. AI-related tasks that use big language models like ChatGPT, need much more power than regular computer applications.
Take the training of an AI model, for example. It can use up thousands of kilowatt-hours of power. Some estimates show that one AI query might need up to ten times the energy of a regular Google search. Also, as more companies start using AI tech, we can expect the need for energy to go up. This will put even more strain on the power grids we have now.
Transforming Data Centers into Energy Suppliers
Data centers use a lot of energy, but they can also supply power to the power grid. New ideas are emerging that might allow these buildings to do this.
1. Using Leftover Heat
One of the best ways data centers could provide energy is by using the extra heat they make. These places produce a lot of heat, and they get rid of it through cooling systems. But this extra heat could be used to warm nearby homes and businesses instead.
A good example is in Quebec. There, the QScale Q01 data center plans to provide almost 100 MW of energy from extra heat by the end of 2024, according to data published by the Canada Energy Regulator. Other places are doing this too. Some data centers are using new cooling systems that catch heat at higher temperatures, which works well for heating networks.
2. Integration with Renewable Energy
Apart from supplying energy for in-house usage in addition to reducing overall carbon emissions, many hyperscale data centers including those run by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have begun utilizing renewable energy sources. In this case, it is clear that data centers will not only meet their energy needs but also make use of the grid as a storage device for excess renewable energy.
These approaches are very important since renewable energy plants are not constructed as quickly as data centers. Data centers located in areas with a lot of renewable energy, such as the Midwest United States or Northern Europe, may become energy hubs where the storage of energy is used to balance energy supply.
3. An opportunity to discuss grid balancing through battery storage.
Data centers now spend more on distributed energy storage than renewable energy essentials. Battery storage plays an essential role in managing the grid demand. It generates power during periods of low usage in society and retains it to supply during moments of high use. It becomes more crucial in areas where the grid fails to expand as it is required to support new sectors such as data centers and transportation that are moving from fossil fuels to electrical power.
In other words, through energy storage tech, data centers manage the stability of the supply grid. This service prevents blackouts and reduces the amount of power that must be produced from fossil fuels.
Challenges and Opportunities
Understandably, there are benefits to a scenario where data centers evolve to become supply sources. However, there are some concerns that are still unaddressed.
To begin with, the technology for waste heat recovery and repurposing it back into the grid is still a work in progress and there could be a financial burden on the construction of additional facilities within large-scale data centers.
Additionally, grid interconnection is often complicated since multiple networks must be integrated together which even with favorable conditions makes some degenerated tasks difficult to perform. Most, if not all, regions may lack the requisite transmission and distribution infrastructure to properly absorb and distribute excessive power from the data center facilities.
Also, the regulatory framework is still fragmented and does not have any regulations on how energy is shared between geospatially distributed data centers and utilities. The absence of structure may prevent data centers from gaining acceptance as independent energy providers, particularly when the focus of the utility sector is on sustainability rather than growth.
However, the fact that data centers can now also function as suppliers of energy is a fundamental alteration in the relationship between IT and electricity distribution networks. This is great news for those investors as well as stakeholders who are now in both sectors, as they are beginning to appreciate the benefits of working in silos. For example, utility companies these days have integrated the energy supply and demand of data centers into their business along with other traditional energy services.
Conclusion
The data centers of the future will need to be automated, connected, sustainable, and developed on the foundation of integrated solutions. After significant growth in recent years, the data center industry is going through a period of maturation. The data centers of the future will no longer just be locations where customers store their information, but will become energy providers and producers, sustainability hubs, or early adopters of next-generation technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
Data center development is also changing as companies operating colocation services will increasingly look for integrated equipment solutions and long-term support at all stages of the project.
