Load Growth Is Here to Stay, But Are Data Centers?

Data center demand growth poses three primary challenges:
– Data centers are highly incentivized to interconnect as quickly as possible but face significant congestion and delays.
– Large new point loads can require substantial grid upgrades, forcing utilities to make potentially risky decisions about allocating scarce capital and managing ratepayer impacts.
– Data centers may consume large quantities of energy (both from existing and new
electricity generators), which may challenge grid reliability if unmanaged.

This paper seeks to ground the conversation around large load growth in some basic facts, offer historical context, and propose innovative ideas for large load developers, …

Meeting Summer Peaks: The Need for Virtual Power Plants

Growing loads and increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather will put stress on the electricity grid this summer and in upcoming summers. Utilities and their regulators need solutions that:

1. Are rapidly deployable to meet near-term summer peaks;
2. Can leverage existing network and customer assets to manage investment (and associated rate pressure);
3. Are adaptable and configurable to address changing grid needs in the face of uncertainty; and
4. Enhance community energy resilience, given increasing risk of extreme weather.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) can meet those needs and should be considered by utilities and regulators as part of a portfolio …

Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption

Data center operation is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. The International Energy Agency recently projected that global data center electricity demand will more than double by 2026. In the United States, the national outlook could resemble the global outlook, but is highly uncertain.

One key uncertainty that could change the trajectory of data center load growth is the use of generative AI models. Both public and corporate imaginations were triggered by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. Evidence about how widely these tools will be used and how much they will change computational needs is …

Outlook for Pending Generation in the PJM Interconnection Queue

The United States is witnessing rapidly growing interest in clean electricity generation, driven by soaring consumer demand for clean energy and the country’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In parallel, the time it takes for new, clean generation projects to move from design to execution in the US has lengthened, meaning that the rising interest has not been matched by supply. The country’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection (PJM), has experienced the most severe delays and backlog in new generation—projects entering the queue today have little chance of coming online before 2030.

It is widely understood that an increasingly …

Achieving an 80% Renewable Portfolio in Alaska’s Railbelt: Cost Analysis

Researchers found that creating a modern energy system in Southcentral Alaska—one that includes new jobs and uses local renewable energy resources—is more affordable than relying on imported natural gas.

Providing 75% of Alaska’s electricity, the Railbelt power system is the largest in the state and consists of five utilities. Because of a looming natural gas shortage, the Alaska State Legislature is exploring the adoption of a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to meet growing energy demand and minimize costs. An RPS requires that a specified percentage of the electricity utilities sell comes from renewable energy resources. This study incorporates input from …

Fostering Collaboration Would Help Build Needed Transmission

It is a national priority to expand transmission capacity on the nation’s bulk power system
to improve grid reliability and resilience and deliver clean, low-cost power to consumers.
Building such transmission is notoriously difficult; however, numerous instances of successful
transmission expansion prove that it is possible. Given the challenges of developing electric
transmission and the need for infrastructure expansion in the coming decades, it is especially
critical to learn from hard-earned experience in terms of what drives success. Other reports
have noted the importance of well-tailored transmission planning, permitting, and cost
allocation policies to drive investment in the high-voltage grid. …

Electric Vehicle Dynamic Charging Performance Characteristics during Bulk Power System Disturbances

The purpose of this document is to highlight the need for collaboration between electric utilities and the electric vehicle (EV)/electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) manufacturing industry to develop strategies that will help ensure bulk power system (BPS) reliability, resilience, and security.

This document focuses on an area that is relatively unexplored: EV charging behavior during infrequent grid disturbances that originate from the BPS. These events last no more than a few seconds but may have catastrophic consequences for grid reliability if left unchecked (i.e., cascading blackouts and widespread power interruptions). This document outlines the need for early engagement and information …

Leveraging Locational and Temporal Flexibility in Transportation Electrification to Benefit Power Systems

Electric vehicles (EVs) that charge where and when electricity is cheaper on the bulk power system can help lower system costs, improve the grid’s ability to incorporate affordable renewable generation, and help to meet grid reliability needs. To enable and encourage EVs to provide these benefits, charging station siting and rates could factor in locational and temporal values of electricity. In organized wholesale electricity markets, locational marginal prices provide some of this information. Charging station rates could track locational marginal prices and include a price on greenhouse gas emissions. This would allow drivers to react to EV charging prices similarly …

Designing Hydropower Flows to Balance Energy and Environmental Needs

Hydropower is expected to play a new role in the US electricity grid as more variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar come online. Wind and solar generation increase fluctuations in electrical supply increasing the value of flexible generation sources that can quickly ramp generation up and down. The flexible generation hydropower can provide as well as the ancillary services (e.g., frequency and voltage regulation and reserves, black start capability) it provides for balancing and stabilizing the power grid are predicted to be of increased value in these future grid scenarios. Yet, the flexibility of hydropower may come with …

Electric Vehicle Adoption Playbook

If current projections hold, Boston Consulting Group estimates that electric vehicles could create between $3 and $10 billion in new value between now and 2030 for an average energy business with 2 to 3 million customers. This colossal increase represents the most significant opportunity in a generation to increase base demand and margins while simultaneously introducing new utility services like home and public charging infrastructure and bolstering grid reliability and resiliency.

The potential is massive, and at the same time the business transformation required to achieve it is equally large. In less than 10 years, analysts predict 200 million chargers …