Decentral load control for data centers
Felix Uster, Franz Veit Plocksties, Dirk Timmermann · 2020
The regulation and stabilization of the power grid requires various system services that have been provided so far primarily by conventional power plants. With the future shutdown of coal-fired and nuclear power plants, investigations into the provision of these services will become all the more important in order to ensure the safe operation of the grid. Currently, photovoltaic and wind can only provide limited so-called control power, so that new methods such as the regulation of large consumers will become interesting. Adapting the electricity requirements of consumers to the current grid situation has a comparable effect to the provision of additional balancing power on the generation side. Some consumers like data centers can provide primary control power at high speed. In this paper we present how data centers can autonomously support grid stabilization with minimal impact on the daily operation. Additional benefits include an higher efficiency and the ability to take advantage of any future financial bonuses by regulation authorities or electricity suppliers.