How Can Utilities Manage Hyperscale Datacenter Demand?

How can utilities meet rapidly growing power demands from hyperscale data centers while maintaining reliability? In a feature article published in the spring issue of Western Energy Magazine, Exponent's Sahand Faraji, Mehrdad Shokrabadi, Ezra Jampole, and Subodh Medhekar explore the evolving utility landscape around hyperscale data centers and the risks involved in keeping up with rising power requirements. 

Titled "Hyperscale Data Centers: Risks, Reliability, and Interconnection," the article offers a broad view of the current growth of data centers across the U.S. and how utilities are coping, with key examples and lessons learned across multiple facets of data center operations, including: 

• Skyrocketing power demands
• Community integration and land use 
• Permitting
• Construction and commissioning
• Backup power and reliability obligations
• Fire, explosion, and battery hazards
• Environmental concerns
• Structural challenges 
• Governance

About WE Magazine

WE Magazine is the trade publication of the Western Energy Institute, a non-profit association serving the energy industry. Formed in 2000 through the merger of The Western Electric Power Institute, founded in 1908, and the Pacific Coast Gas Association, founded in 1893, WEI comprises a wide range of energy companies and has more than 80 energy members from over 20 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

From the publication: "By combining process safety principles, probabilistic risk assessment methods, and multidisciplinary design, utilities and operators can integrate hyperscale loads without compromising resilience."