For global and North American data center markets, the pace of change is frenetic, but there’s at least one constant. Demand for power is unsatiable. The top challenge for data centers and data center development is the lack of available energy generation and capable power distribution networks. It’s an issue that’s top of mind for developers, investors and end users – and there’s no quick or easy fix.
There are very few areas in the US, Canada and Europe that have both generation surplus and capable transmission to meet the large-scale data center demand.
Compounding this, at every step, are the NIMBYs, the overwhelming majority of whom embrace the technology that’s dependent on data centers but seem to slow many projects to a crawl. If we want to see high-tech industries succeed and continue to create jobs, we need to start talking about solutions for our power problems.
There’s no single answer, but there are existing, innovative and sustainable technologies that can both ease the burden on power grids and support data-center demand and development. Solar, wind and existing nuclear power options are good but have their pros and cons. Solar and wind, of course, require tremendous amounts of land to achieve scale. With nuclear power, we’ve seen Microsoft announce plans to fund reopening Three Mile Island’s reactor, and we’ve also seen the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission throw a wrench in proposed interconnection service agreement (ISA) plans related to data centers.
Though nascent in the US, we’re increasingly seeing hydrogen fuel cells at significant scale evaluated and used to power data centers in other countries.
Similarly, we’re seeing small modular nuclear reactors emerge as a viable power option that’s not necessarily connected to the grid. These are all encouraging but, at this stage, are still exploratory and in their infancy. We’ll also need to see modifications in the regulatory framework that maintain safety and reliability but also serve as catalysts for innovation and speed-to-market, all of which ultimately benefits household consumers and data centers, among other energy-intensive, high-tech industries.
