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A Multi-disciplinary Perspective on Data Centers, Transmission and Generation Infrastructure Development: How to Close the Gap to Meet the Load Demands?
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has published typical time frames for data centers, generation, and transmission development. While the specific times to build infrastructure depend on the state and/or federal regulatory bodies, large data centers with sizes in the order of 200 MW, 600 MW, or 1,000 MW could be developed in 2–3 years. Generation development typically ranges from 3–5 years, and transmission development in most of the United States takes 8–10 years to build.
Two major independent system operators (ISO)/regional transmission organizations (RTO) have projected significant load increases for their footprint. PJM forecasts between 30 GW–40 GW of new data centers in the next 10 years, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) forecasts more than 43 GW of new data center load by 2030. The large load forecast tends to put pressure on the generation, load, and transmission interconnections queues and development plans. The need to review this holistically and in an integrated way is crucial.
This panel presents the perspective of different actors in the electric power and energy industry, which include electric power utilities by way of investor-owned utilities (IOU) and municipalities, ISO/RTOs, and data center developers. The panel focuses on current challenges, opportunities, and solutions that are needed to meet the forecasted load demands.
