Datacenters are blocking other energy users from connecting to the grid by over-reserving capacity in case they need it for future growth, according to a new report.
Advisory body Uptime Institute says that power use in modern datacenters tends to remain largely constant, with significant changes in demand typically coming from business expansion. To allow for this, operators often reserve significantly more power than they require, which prevents other users from being allocated that capacity by the grid, even though it is not actually being used.
In its "Are datacenters reserving too much grid power?" report, shared with The Register, Uptime notes that energy grid operators cannot expand their networks at will because new infrastructure has to be approved by regulators first as part of a development plan, and this takes a lot of time and effort.
Because grid service is typically granted strictly on a first-come-first-served basis, this leads developers to reserve capacity for projects that may never get built, and bit barn owners in particular to apply for more grid power than their immediate needs require so as to accommodate future growth and mitigate year-on-year planning uncertainty.
This causes issues because there are increasing demands on the grid as manufacturing industries and transportation become increasingly electrified.
Meanwhile, AI-focused datacenters pose a separate challenge. Unlike traditional facilities, where power use tends to be steady, AI training can exhibit frequent, significant load variations, as previously reported.
The connection issues have not gone unnoticed by governments, some of which – such as the UK and US – are keen to promote new datacenter builds in order to serve the burgeoning demand for AI training and deployment.
In the UK, the government delivered a package of reforms under the heading of "Delivering AI Growth Zones" last month. These include measures to remove speculative requests in the grid connection queue. These are applications related to building projects that never got off the ground but weren't cancelled.
The government also announced last week that household energy bills will rise to help fund expansion of the grid, which will see an extra £108 ($144) in network charges on bills by 2031.
Meanwhile, in the US, the Secretary of Energy ordered rules to limit the time taken to review connection decisions to 60 days, and to deter speculative projects by imposing deposits and withdrawal penalties on applications.
The new rules would also give priority to applicants that agree for their energy load to be curtailable, meaning that it can be reduced or temporarily shut off if it is necessary to stabilize the grid.
Uptime also noted this, saying that flexible connection agreements can allow users to get connected to grids faster if they accept certain conditions, such as demand control (including curtailment) during grid stress and meeting certain technical requirements. Those requirements may include reactive power and voltage control and enabling real-time monitoring by the grid operator.
The report also warns that datacenters can lose 10 percent or more of their uninterruptible power supply (UPS) capacity because of what it calls stranded power – electrical infrastructure that has been built but is not actually being used by the IT equipment or its supporting infrastructure.
Uptime concludes that with increasing stress on power grids globally, datacenter firms should aim to make efficient use of the grid power they have reserved.
It recommends they should engage with the grid operator and work together on minimizing grid stress, as well as considering flexible connection agreements that may expedite grid access in areas with long connection queues. ®
Source: The register