Will a data center affect my Power Supply? Will it cause Rolling Brown-outs?

The power consumption of data centers does most often require transmission grid and substation improvements. A series of studies and grid modeling exercises are completed by the Utility and the Regional Transmission Operator, overseen by FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  The studies identify what improvements/upgrades are needed on the grid in order to provide power to the data center site, but more importantly, to ensure that the rest of the grid is not compromised.  It identifies the weak points in the grid. The Utilty’s then require data center users to fund the grid improvements needed.   Thereby shoring up weaker points of the grid and effectively strengthening the grid.  Furthermore, Data Centers are increasingly participating in demand-response programs, providing onsite energy storage (such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)), adding onsite generation, or capturing curtailment of renewable energy (the ‘extra’ energy that is produced from say, wind, but can’t go onto the grid due to transmission congestion).  

Therefore, the answer is that a data center going in near you will actually improve the power service and reliability of the local transmission grid.