As demand for data centers skyrockets, our nation’s electrical grid is nearing its breaking point. We need a better path forward.

ThE problem

The Unsustainable Status Quo

Over the past 20 years, more than 20,000 MWs of data center capacity have been built domestically, yet this is only the tip of the iceberg. By 2030, that number is expected to triple in a third of the time, driven by the rising demand for compute and further accelerated by AI’s power density, growing to represent up to 7.5% of the country’s projected electricity demand.

Our already-stressed electrical grid is grappling with the electrification of everything from vehicles to homes, the growth of intermittent renewable energy sources, and the push to onshore manufacturing. As data centers proliferate across the country, we risk pushing the grid past its limit, jeopardizing communities’ access to affordable, reliable, and clean power.

However, not building these projects would have significant economic development, innovation, and national security implications.

  • “When you look at the numbers, it is staggering. It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation. How were the projections that far off? This has created a challenge like we have never seen before.”

    Jason Shaw, Chairman, Georgia Public Service Commission

  • “We do need way more energy in the world than we thought we needed before. We still don’t appreciate the energy needs of this technology.”

    Sam Altman, Chief Executive Officer, OpenAI

THE SOLUTION

A Better Path Forward

We believe there is a better way. Through dynamic load flexibility and collaboration with utilities, data centers can become assets to the grid, not simply drains.

Distributed energy technologies like batteries are becoming increasingly cost-effective and reliable as backup power sources. Combined with the ability to have flexibility in the dispatchability of certain compute workloads, such as training AI models, intelligently built and operated data centers can provide large-scale flexibility to the grid that can help utilities manage their peak-demand challenges.

“Data Center Flexibility: A Call to Action” is a white paper, authored by Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), that aims to catalyze collaboration between data center developers and grid operators in order to explore this approach and support a more sustainable deployment of digital infrastructure in the US.

Download the white paper.

CALL TO ACTION

In order to build robust critical digital infrastructure in the US, all parties — data centers, utilities, grid operators, and policymakers — must collaborate to realize the untapped value that data centers can bring to the grid.

SIP invites the industry’s stakeholders to join us in taking concrete action.