THE DATA CENTRE INTERVIEW
Data centres and utilities: Towards an energy partnership by 2030 The longer-term evolution of the industry points towards a fundamental change in the commercial relationship between data centre operators and utilities. Rather than the transactional dynamic of buyer and seller, Giampiero anticipates something closer to a joint infrastructure partnership, with solar playing a central role in the transition.
Solar is well-suited to this because it generates DC power natively and can be deployed at scale relatively quickly, without the planning and construction lead times associated with large grid infrastructure. The rise of energy-asa-service models – where a third party or the utility itself owns and operates generation and storage assets, with the data centre paying for consumption
30 % to
50 %
reduced construction timelines with standardised components
“The greenest building is usually the one that is already standing”
Giampiero Frisio President of the Electrification Business Area ABB
– is reducing the barrier to adoption further.“ This helps data centres avoid high upfront costs while meeting their green goals and letting energy experts handle the grid,” Giampiero says.
For utilities, the model offers a way to accommodate the power demands of AI without committing to large centralised generation or transmission projects. Local micro-grids, built in partnership with data centre operators and validated through digital twin simulation, offer a more flexible and responsive alternative.
The vision Giampiero describes is one in which the data centre is no longer simply an end-user of grid power.“ The best data centres won’ t just be buildings full of computers,” he says.“ They will be energy hubs where operators, utilities, and tech partners such as ABB and NVIDIA work together to deliver the reliable, efficient power AI needs.”
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