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U. Generating abilitySchneider Electric said early this year. Some AI power demand projections are even more aggressive, such as a 2024 rand corporation forecast quoted by Schneider 130 GW from data center demand by 2030.
With data center projects is worth at least $ 64 million With delay or blocked by the opposition opposition and regulators of the opposition and regulators who put restrictions on development, it seems that a decline occurs.
Data Center opponents cite a Letthaia of worriesFrom noise to water pollution, but some of the most commonly cited centers on the local impacts of energy generation on the site and the broadest effects on the mains. Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s lamb overcome local opposition to Ensure an air permit For a fleet of gas generators at their IA Training Center in Memphis, Tenn.
Texas legislators recently passed a law that required new data centers Disconnect from the grid During periods of high demand for power. Several states have implemented or are considering special utility rates that require the data center companies to cover the costs of the network updates they benefit. North Carolina Service Regulators Plan A technical conference In October on the possible impacts of data centers on the reliability of power.
Kelcy Pegler, General Director of Flexgen, a battery management software company, the data centers for power and the growing recognition that the non -controlled growth would be a problem for the network.
“From a social perspective, we are despised the impact that data centers will have on the network,” Pegler said in an interview. “We will have a period of entry in which the data center ambitions will have trouble reaching fruition.”
By the beginning of this year, Flexgen was associated with the Rosendin electric contractor To develop and deploy a battery -based solution to help the IA data centers more reliably operate with less impacts on close useful customers and the network in general. Your solution could also reduce data centers Huge electrical costs -We can reach 60% of the operating costs, while the use of the fossil fuel generator is reduced, Pegler said.
Best energy management with less impacts on the network
Flexgen and Rosendin joined to keep AI data center operators ahead of an expected exponential increase in the newest facilities power density that exceeds the capabilities of the traditional Uninterruptible feeding systems.
UPS systems are directly integrated with individual servers racks and respond almost instantaneously to power interruptions, protecting sensitive chips and damage network equipment. But Nvidia’s last chips consume much more power than previous generations, despite significant efficiency improvementsPegler said he needs more powerful battery back systems at the building or campus level.
“No one saw this because no one knew how [powerful] The new chip would be, “he said.
This affected a crust among data center developers to find solutions for current developing facilities. These facilities already look different than their predecessors because the last chips generally need Some form of liquid coolingthat rejects the heat more effectively than the forced air.
Flexgen-Rosendin’s offer is “a smarter, thinner and more sensitive approach to data design of the data center that requires no redesign on the walls of the data center,” said Flexgen’s innovation chief, Pasi Taimela last month.
The collaboration combines the battery back system at Rosendin’s service with the Flexgen technology that allows data centers to move without problems between the modes connected to the network and the “islanders”, according to companies. Pegler said that the solution is a key reliability point for data centers, as real -time demand for the AI inference increases in critical industries.
Today, “Chatgpt is willing to say,” Sorry, I can’t help you right now, “but you can imagine many future cases,” such as time-sensitive healthcare features, “where” I can’t help you right now “it’s not an option,” he said.
Flexible Bessups systems also position data centers to support instead of loading the network with their overwhelming power demand, according to Flexgen and Rosendin. During high stress periods on the net, such as hot summer nights, facilities can come out of their own batteries. Or, if you can afford some computer processes, they can be temporarily transformed into electric power plants and sending the stored energy in these batteries to the network.
And even in non -emergency situations, energy demand from data centers can change rapidly in minutes, causing voltage fluctuations that can damage the site -sensitive computer systems and unrelated. Commercial and consumer equipment nearby. A Wood Mackenzie analysis last month increased energy consumption in a data center at a hypers scale Download 30% in five minutes After increasing almost as fast, for example.
Bessups systems in data centers can soften these voltage variations sometimes “violent” and protect sensitive equipment, such as Utility -scale battery systems do so on the main networkSaid Pegler.
Bring the grid connection vacuum
According to experts, Flexgen and Rosendin come together to provide a broad set of complementary power solutions to the site for data centers that face network restrictions. Other options include gas generators, batteries and solar panels on the site, or some combination of them, as a “ bridge ” the gap potentially five to seven years old between the application for interconnection and final approval for a 1GW hyperscala data campus, according to Jim Grice, data centers chair and the digital infrastructure practice of the AKerman law.
The creation of a hypera -scale data campus does not happen at the same time, said Grice in an interview. A typical hypersalç campus could start from 100 to 200 megavatios and then climb to 1 GW over time, he said, ideally after passing the network connection. At this time, the “bridge” power infrastructure can go to a backup paper and, like Flexgen and Rosendin, can act as a freelancer microgrid When the Pica network demand.
But, although the “bridge” does not have to feed the whole place in the complete construction, it must be as resistant as a network connection and a backup power to the site and it does not cost several more times, said Grice.
“You basically have to exceed your power capacity and this will have an impact on prices,” he said. “It’s like chec 3-D.”
The need for redundancy has some developers to acquire and store gas generators, but to order queues even for smaller generators, and not just the largest turbines reserved until the end of the decade – Now in some cases, he said in some cases, said Grice. Developers can lead to gas generators sooner, such as the group behind a Pennsylvania power project of $ 10 billion This aims to start operating next year, have won their plans openly.
Maintain sustainability goals available
For the rural data center campuses with less space restrictions, the renewable energy to the site can offer more time “time in energy” than gas, said Grice. Google announced last year Location of data centers nearby and buy energy from up to $ 20 billion from “energy parks” with sustainable power developed by Intersect Power, the first of which could reach the line next year. The capture is that renewables in the site require more space than gas generators, about six to eight hectares per megavati of solar capacity, said Grice.
Despite this, and despite Renovable Energy Head Policy At the federal level, most data center companies prefer net power if possible, said Grice.
“All things are the same, if there is a place available with solar batteries Plus and grid backing, [a data center would] Select to connect to a coal -fed network, “said Grice.” We see all kinds of [data center] Development strategies with large -scale renewables, which is a tendency of the market that is happening. “”
That is why there are some data centers companies bull in new energy storage technologies This could meet their high time requirements, while further reducing confidence in the power fueled by generators’ fossils on the site or power grid.
Prometheus has announced in May that it would add organic flow batteries of XL batteries in phases in a Wyoming Data Center. First Up is a small pilot project, established by 2027, to validate the abilities of technology. If the pilot goes well, two systems capable of downloading 12.5 MW per hour would follow one another in 2028 and 2029, according to companies.
Unlike today’s dominant chemistry, active materials from organic flow batteries are non-toxic, non-flammable and non-corrosive, which makes them more safe to be near dollars of data centers. (Prometheus will also bury his batteries, so they work better in the hard weather of Wyoming, said senior energy adviser Adam Mirick in an interview.)
In addition, flow batteries can support maximum download rates for longer periods of time than lithium ion batteries. This means that they can more reliable energy data centers with wind, sun and other sources of low emissions, including, possibly, the small nuclear reactors Promise and Some other data centers companies We hope to feed its facilities in the future.
“If this works, and we think that this gives us a line of view to acquire and start incorporating [flow batteries] In future data centers, “said Mirick.
