Electrification and digitalization now reach almost every corner of our society, pushing electricity demand beyond historical planning assumptions. Digital infrastructure is a major part of that shift. Interconnection requests exceeding 20 megawatts were once considered large loads. Now, requests of 250-500 megawatts are increasingly common, even in secondary markets that have traditionally experienced lower energy demand. This reflects the distributed nature of digital and AI infrastructure. In spite of this increased demand, utilities don’t have an adversarial relationship with data centers. According to a recent IDC InfoBrief that surveyed utilities and grid operators, 72% of respondents view data centers as…

The post How Data Centers Move from Grid Load to Grid Partner appeared first on Interconnections - The Equinix Blog.