Quantitative Evaluation of Data Centers' Participation in Demand Side Management

In recent years, the rapid increase in the number of internet users and widespread usage of internet applications have obliged large servers and networking equipment to manage large data stack and optimize the instantaneous transmission of digital information. The COVID-19 Pandemic has also caused an increase in data exchanges and digital information generation. In order to manage large-scale data, there is a need for gigantic data centers (DCs) which are tremendous energy consumers and have relatively flexible loads that are easier to control by means of shifting in time and space. Therefore, DCs can be regarded as dispatchable loads and are considered good candidates for participating in demand side management (DSM) programs for power curve smoothing and compensation of power fluctuation in electrical power systems. In this paper, the question of why DCs should participate in DSM has been investigated rather than the technical methods used in DSM. The amount of DCs' participation energy is used by peak shaving/shifting method for power curve smoothing using actual data. The possible environmental and flnancial effects of it for Turkey and all the world have been carried out. The study results show that DCs' participation in DSM for Turkey decreases peak load by up to 2.18%, defers up to 34% of the installed power plants launched in 2019, and improves load and loss factors by up to 2.2% and 4.3% respectively. Additionally, global DC's participation in DSM decreases the peak point by up to 0.77% and reduces CO2 emission by 0.03%.

Automated summary

With the growth of internet users and data exchanges, large data centers have become crucial in participating in demand side management programs to smooth power curves and compensate for power fluctuations, with the potential to reduce peak loads and defer power plant installations while improving load and loss factors.