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Thanks to the exponential rise of AI, the rapid construction of large, gigawatt-gobbling data centers across the country has stoked concerns about how the power grid will hold up under this additional strain.

Cornell researchers have proposed a novel way to manage the increased demand for electricity: a credit market that would essentially allow data centers facing required cutbacks to pay flexible energy users to take on their obligations when the grid is strained.

The findings were published Sept. 22 in Applied Energy. The lead author is doctoral student Richard Mahuze.

"The question is how to connect a data center's obligation to cut back with flexibility elsewhere on the grid. Our proposed market would let eligible users trade that obligation while still delivering the reduction the grid needs," said Max Zhang, the Irving Porter Church professor of engineering in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, who oversaw the project.

The researchers got their start a year ago by talking with industry representatives—including David Nanus '96, president of LS Power Equity Advisors—about ways to integrate data centers with energy grids, both in terms of possible incentives and network constraints.

Their timing was fortuitous.

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