Powering Digital Infrastructure Requires Planning, Flexibility and Humans

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Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As all power demands are expected to continue rising, the growing presence of data centers will further tax grid infrastructures in the U.S. and worldwide. Even more challenging is the task of balancing expansion of affordable and reliable power against the requirements of climate and emissions goals.

While the grid is indeed important, the power challenge starts at an earlier phase, involving generation. This involves a new kind of "generation gap," to repurpose a 1960s term, said Chris Sharp, chief technology officer at Digital Realty. "It's not just about the distribution, but it's about the creation of that (power), making sure you understand where that power is going to be generated."

Sharp was among four panelists sharing ideas at Reuters Event's webinar, "Powering the Digital Infrastructure of the Future," on April 2. Other panelists included: Andrew Evans, head of industrial and energy partnerships for Shell Energy; Maud Texier, director of carbon reduction strategy for Google; and Sam Ruddock, COO of data center solutions, Americas, for commercial real estate firm CBRE, which has a significant role in investing in data centers.

Hosting the meeting was Miranda Gardiner, executive director of iMasons Climate Accord, a nonprofit dedicated to training humans for jobs related to meeting climate goals.

The generation gap is the top of three challenges Sharp listed. The second involves master planning the locations of large data facilities, and the last involves permitting delays, an international issue agreed upon by all panelists. Sharp connected supply chain and personnel issues with permitting issues. Overall, "I would tell you that the grid congestion is one of the biggest challenges for us to operate in markets around the world."

Bridging the gap will involve a great deal of flexibility, Texier said, because it's not always just about generation: "Sometimes it's about grid infrastructure, other times it's about electricity supply, sometimes it's both." Because these variations are location-specific, there's no one-size-fits-all plan, she said.

Texier added that larger scale planning is key because data center growth is ballooning. "This long-term planning (is necessary) with a lot of those utilities, because they need to make infrastructure investment decisions, and today, it's very hard for them to get those frameworks in place to do them at the scale and the speed that we need them."

Rudick pointed out that "supply chain resilience" is key to building new power sources of any kind, where "a lot of that is 18-24 months-plus out," so extensive planning is needed from start to finish.

Part of the challenge with flexibility is that it's a hidden fourth leg on the three legged stool of reliability, affordability and sustainability, Evans said. Short-term solutions like natural gas generation combined with carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) are needed now, with an eye toward shifting to renewables with battery energy-storage systems (BESS) at that becomes possible.

Nuclear energy is gaining traction in the realm of clean and reliable energy as well, overcoming what Ruddock termed "a lot of negative connotation historically. They're building these in a way now that they sit next to the data centers, they're visually pleasing." With disposal of nuclear waste having been a huge downside in the past, Ruddick added this waste is now being recycled instead of buried.

Conservation has long been considered an additional fuel, and Evans addressed that, pointing out that 35% of a data center's energy is used in cooling. Finding more efficient cooling systems, on which research is now heavily invested, is one way to ease the grid's strain.

From there is "demand response," making sure that generated electrons are used "in the most optimal manner at the right time," he added.

And because overbuilding, or "building to the peak" would involve costly overinvestment, Sharp pointed out that accurately assessing the future opportunities for each type of power generation are vital in the planning process.

With all this, humans are still the key. "I think preparing our workforce is a really big piece here," Sharp said. "It's ensuring that we've got a good pipeline of talent coming in that understands the challenges... in these types of environments is really beneficial." People who are open minded to rethinking the situation, realizing that "there are solutions that we haven't thought of yet, or even challenges we haven't thought of yet," that make the environment exciting for creative thinkers.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).