WS1: Grid Informed Flexible Data Center Designs

Workstream 1 (WS1) focuses on advancing data center flexibility, addressing three major objectives:

To provide a structure to understanding the needs for flexibility and the means by which flexibility may be developed to support data center grid integration
To improve the guidance available to data center designers on how flexibility may be enhanced through the data center development process
To demonstrate innovative solutions such as backup generation, alternative fuels, and energy storage—and thoroughly assesses the impacts on power quality, reliability, and emissions—through real-world field trials.

Flexibility and Innovation in Data Center Design

As the digital society and economy grows, the data center infrastructure that underpins those services is rapidly scaling. As data centers grow in scale and significance, their role in supporting a flexible, reliable, and sustainable grid becomes increasingly critical.

DCFlex Workstream 1 focuses on Flexible Data Center Design investigating the needs for flexibility, the capabilities that may enable it and understand the extent to how it can be delivered.

Through a combination of leading modelling, analysis and real-world demonstrations, the workstream will inform across industries on leading practices to incorporate flexibility by design, on the performance of flexibility enhancing technologies and lessons from implementation across the globe.

Workstream Deliverables

2025 DCFlex Demonstration Projects Update

This white paper provides insights into four DCFlex demonstration projects focused on flexibility in design, utility programs, grid planning, and energy supply. It highlights real-world demonstrations in Phoenix, AZ; Lenoir, NC; Paris, France and Chicago, IL showcasing techniques such as AI workload modulation, demand response, and backup power integration. These projects help to validate the technical feasibility of dynamic load management, fault ride-through capabilities, and carbon-aware operations, offering a blueprint for sustainable data center growth while supporting grid stability and accelerating renewable integration.

Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines and Data Centers: Overview

This report provides a summary of engine types for DC power generation, reviews RICE use for both primary power and emergency backup applications, and then details information gathered on RICE use for DCs from multiple engine vendors and a provider of engine units.

Grid Flexibility Needs and Data Center Characteristics

This publicly-accessible white paper takes a first step toward developing a common understanding of flexibility between power providers, grid operators, and data center stakeholders