乔治城与杜克报告：为何电池而非燃气电厂应成数据中心首选

• Why batteries, not gas plants, should be data centers' first choice
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A new report from Georgetown and Duke researchers looks at the advantages of using batteries to meet data center demand — and offers some advice for states.

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Developers and utilities are building tons of gas generation to power the data center boom. It’s an expansion that could cost them and the rest of us dearly, both in terms of climate change and money that may end up wasted if computing demand fails to materialize. 

But there’s a cleaner, cheaper, and faster-to-deploy alternative: batteries.

That’s the conclusion of a new report from researchers at Georgetown and Duke universities, which lays out the ways states can push utilities and tech firms to opt for energy storage over fossil fuels whenever possible. 

Fossil fuel power — whether in the form of giant utility-scale plants or generators installed behind the meter at data centers — has become the go-to for many in the AI industry. That’s because gas generation offers round-the-clock power in a single package. Overall, U.S. utilities are planning more than 60 gigawatts of new gas plants to serve data center demand, and around 90 GW of behind-the-meter gas generators for data centers have been proposed nationwide. 

“At the moment, there’s a lot of inertia and status quo pressure for much of the behind-the-meter resources being natural gas,” said Ian Hitchcock, report co-author and senior program coordinator at the Duke Initiative for Science and Society. 

Moving ahead with those gas power plans does more than spell climate disaster. If data center proposals fall through or shut down early, other utility customers could be on the hook for the cost of overbuilding gas. That’s called ​“stranded asset” risk — and states have only begun to tackle it, even amid mounting fears that the AI sector is a bubble about to pop. 

Batteries ​“can act as a hedge against that risk,” last week’s report explains. Batteries are much cheaper than round-the-clock gas generation in situations where hours of stored energy can solve near-term needs. They’re also inherently modular and flexible in ways that gas power plants are not, which allows planners to increase or cut back on deployment if data center demand shifts sharply. 

While lithium-ion batteries can’t provide round-the-clock power, they can meet large portions of data center electricity needs, said Jackson Ewing, director of energy and climate policy at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute of Energy, Environment & Sustainability. And unlike more future-forward solutions — such as advanced geothermal, next-generation nuclear, and novel long-duration energy storage technologies — ​“batteries are already showing serious momentum in terms of their deployment trajectory.” 

In fact, utilities and data center developers are increasingly embracing batteries, even as they pursue gas. A new forecast from BloombergNEF sees U.S. energy storage deployment surpassing 11,000 gigawatt-hours by 2036, a 30% increase from its 10-year forecast from just six months ago. Data center demand is pushing much of that growth.

So, what can state decision-makers do to further encourage data centers to opt for batteries?

States that directly regulate utility investments can craft ​“bring your own new clean energy” tariff structures. These regulations can set minimum requirements for data centers to procure or pay for enough carbon-free generation and energy storage to cover some or all of their electricity needs. Certain jurisdictions are already moving ahead with this approach; Google, for example, has signed onto such tariffs with regulators in Nevada and Minnesota. 

Things get more complicated in states with ​“restructured” energy markets. In these places, regulators have limited authority over the independent power producers that build big generation and battery projects and sell power into wholesale electricity markets. Still, the report highlights several ways that these states can encourage battery development to serve data centers, including via state energy storage mandates like those launched in Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey, and engaging in state energy planning in conjunction with regional grid operators. 

“There is not a jurisdiction that has no potential action items if they’re serious about trying to deploy this,” Hitchcock said. 

• Batteries
• Affordability
• Climate crisis
• Data centers

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Jeff St. John is chief reporter and policy specialist at Canary Media. He covers innovative grid technologies, rooftop solar and batteries, clean hydrogen, EV charging, and more.