Technology companies, database developers and energy services have been in panic for the prospect of fugitive electricity demand in the US in the face of an unprecedented increase in it.
Amidst all handshakes, a new work published this week suggests that the situation may not be so severe if the data center operators and other electricity users limit their use so little.
Limiting the power drawn from the network to 90% of the maximum for a few hours at a time – for a total of about one day a year – new users can unlock 76 gigawatts of capacity in the United States. This is more than all the databases they use globally, according to Goldman Sachs. To put that number in perspective, it is about 10% of the peak demand in the US
If the data centers would limit their use more, they can progressively unlock more capacity.
Such programs are not exactly new.
For decades, municipal services have encouraged large electricity users such as shopping malls, universities and factories to reduce their use when the peaks of demand, as in hot summer days. Those users can give up the air conditioning or turn off the eager cars for several hours, and as a return, the service gives them a loan on their bill.
Data centers are largely lowered at the borders, rather than deciding to maintain time and performance for their clients. The study argues that data centers can be ideal participants of the demand response because they have the potential to be flexible.
There are some ways that data centers can shorten their energy use, the study says. One is temporary flexibility, or the displacement of computing tasks at the time of lower demand. Model training he, for example, can be easily reset to accommodate a short restriction.
Another is spatial flexibility, where companies move their calculators to other regions that are not experiencing high demand. Even with databases, operators can consolidate the loads and close some of their servers.
And if the tasks are critical of the mission and cannot be delayed or moved, the data center operators can always be turned into alternative energy sources to compensate any restrictions. Batteries are ideally suited for this as even modest sized installations can provide several hours of energy almost immediately.
Some companies have already participated in the ad hoc versions of these.
Google has used its conscious carbon platform, originally developed to cut emissions, to enable the demand response. ENEL X has worked with data centers to insert into the batteries in their uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to stabilize the network. And PG & E is offering to connect data centers to the network faster if operators agree to participate in a request response program.
These changes will not fully eliminate the need for new resources of power. But they can turn a potentially catastrophic situation – in which half of all new servers he is empowered – in what is more easily resolved.
