Abstract

Data centers are computing infrastructures that process and store digital information. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving a substantial increase in data center electricity demand, posing significant challenges to transmission networks. Geographically concentrated loads can trigger transmission congestion and reliability constraints, while the integration of renewable requires flexible resources to maintain grid reliability and minimize renewable curtailment. This paper proposes that data centers can act as grid resources by geographically reallocating computational workloads to address these challenges. An optimal power dispatch model demonstrates that spatially flexible data center demand can reduce operating costs and spinning reserve requirements, effectively enabling data centers to function as dispatchable load resources. Case studies on a modified IEEE 73-bus system show that inflexible data center placement can lead to severe transmission violations, with line overloads reaching up to 30.1%. Enabling spatial flexibility mitigates these violations and restores system feasibility. Moreover, by strategically shifting demand toward solar-rich locations, spatial flexibility reduces solar curtailment by up to 61.0%. These results indicate that spatially flexible data center demand can provide transmission-like operational value and enhance renewable energy utilization.

Index Terms

Data center spatial flexibility, demand-side flexibility, locational marginal pricing, optimal power flow, renewable integration, transmission congestion

Cite this paper:

Haoxiang Wan, Linhan Fang, and Xingpeng Li, “Grid Operational Benefit Analysis of Data Center Spatial Flexibility: Congestion Relief, Renewable Energy Curtailment Reduction, and Cost Saving”, IEEE PES General Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Jul. 2026.