Draft grid rules position data centers as active grid participants

The number of data centers is increasing with new campuses projected to have power demands of 0.5-2.5 GW or more, and many clustered around fiber hubs and metropolitan areas. As a result, these data centers can account for a significant fraction of average electricity demand (sometimes as much as 20%) in locations such as Virginia (US), Dallas (Texas, US), Chicago (Illinois, US), Ireland, Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Frankfurt (Germany). In these areas, data centers can exacerbate grid instability because many are programmed to disconnect rapidly from the grid during voltage and frequency disturbances.

Several serious grid events have occurred in the last four years, primarily in Virginia (US) and Ireland, when a significant portion of the data center load disconnected simultaneously. The transmission system operators (TSOs) had to act quickly to rebalance supply and demand to prevent a blackout. As a result of these events, at least six initiatives led by TSOs and related standard bodies have been launched to develop requirements for managing large, grid-connected computational loads (see Power companies act to stop data center-induced blackouts). After consultation with data center operators and other stakeholders, Eirgrid has released a final standard, the Fault ride-through overview document; which now awaits formal publication by the Irish Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).