By John Thomas, VP of Product Management and Strategy
The demand for ever-larger data centers is growing exponentially in today’s increasingly digital world. From streaming services and cloud computing to recent developments in artificial intelligence, almost every aspect of today’s digital economy depends on reliable data processing and storage. However, as global computing capacity grows, so do energy demands, presenting critical challenges related to data center operations, reliability, site development, and additional grid constraints. The modern power-hungry data center requires a substantial amount of electricity to operate reliably and efficiently. By 2028, data centers alone are projected to consume between 6.7% and 12% of the total electricity generated in the U.S.
According to a survey of 149 senior data center industry professionals, 44% said utility wait times exceed 4+ years to connect new projects. To meet the energy needs of AI computing on the timeline data center developers require, we need to think outside of the box. Instead of waiting years for a grid connection capable of supporting a new data center, developers are increasingly turning to renewable energy and energy storage as their primary power source to provide 24/7 green baseload energy.
Solar energy is one of the most deployed sources of new generation due to its low cost and low carbon footprint. But, it has one obvious limitation: it only works when the sun is shining. Cloud cover, nightfall, and seasonal variation all lead to fluctuations in power availability. For a data center, even a brief interruption in energy supply can result in significant performance issues, downtime, or worse—data loss. For data centers that require 24/7 uptime, this inconsistency can’t be tolerated. That’s where long-duration energy storage (LDES) innovations like ESS’ iron flow technology come into play.
LDES enables unprecedented flexibility
Traditionally, data center siting was influenced by its proximity to reliable grid power, fuel supply lines (such as natural gas or diesel), proximity to fiber, network bandwidth capacity, optimal environmental conditions and future scalability. These energy constraints often limit site selection and can slow down deployment by years. However, the game is changing with the advent of renewables iron flow solutions, like ESS’ Energy Base™, which unlock new levels of flexibility for data center site selection:
- Decoupling from centralized energy infrastructure: By storing renewable energy onsite, such as solar, data centers can be built farther from the grid or fossil fuel sources.
- Faster time to power: Deploying ESS technology with onsite renewable generation can reduce interconnection delays and make bringing new data center facilities online easier.
- Optimizing connectivity and bandwidth: With power requirements supported by energy storage, developers can prioritize locations with optimal proximity to fiber, speeding up data center transmissions and reducing latency.
- Enhance resilience with long-duration energy storage: The ESS Energy Base can provide up to 22 hours of backup energy to ensure data centers can continue operating during extended grid outages.
- LDES seamlessly integrates with any landscape: ESS’ iron flow solutions leverage standard, cost-effective designs that work for any geography and climate to maximize operating performance while meeting safety regulations and community requirements.
This increased flexibility can significantly broaden geographic options for consideration and even reduce congestion in popular data center hubs, helping distribute digital infrastructure more flexibly and sustainably.
Iron flow cost savings and economic benefits
Beyond the increased flexibility and environmental gains, ESS’ iron flow technology offers significant economic advantages over other LDES technologies for data center operators today:
- Cost effective: Iron flow batteries use an electrolyte based on easy-to-source materials. Operators can cut utility bills and reduce peak charges by storing solar or off-peak energy and discharging it during high-demand periods.
- Improved energy management and scalability: The Energy Base allows power (the rate of electricity flow) to be decoupled from the capacity (the total amount of energy held). This, combined with unlimited cycling and rapid response time, means that the performance of each Energy Base can be tailored to meet individual data center needs.
- Long-term resilience: With a lifespan of over two decades without capacity degradation, iron flow batteries reduce the need for costly system replacements or augmentation.
These economic benefits create a compelling case for data center operators facing rising energy costs, scarce energy resources, and corporate energy and carbon deadlines.
ESS offers scalable and sustainable LDES for the data center operations
The future of the data center industry lies in its ability to scale. ESS’s iron flow technology offers a powerful path forward—delivering long-duration, safe, and flexible energy storage that complements renewable sources and unlocks new potential for site development and operational efficiency.
As the digital economy grows, operators and infrastructure developers must reimagine what’s possible. By adopting innovative solutions like iron flow batteries, the industry can reduce its environmental footprint and operating challenges while maintaining the reliability and performance that our connected world demands.