Eking More Energy from Everything — from Home Hot Water Heaters to Data Centers

Source: Elisa Wood | · ENERGY CHANGEMAKERS · | December 7, 2025

Report Says Flexible Data Centers Solve Some Big Energy Woes

We’ve entered the age of eking out and leveraging energy from every corner, a skill particularly suited to the decentralized grid.

Home heaters, cars, smart electric panels, and other community resources can serve as flexible loads to help our power system meet growing demand from AI and electrification.

It turns out data centers can make themselves more flexible, too, significantly easing the burden they place on the electric grid and shortening their now-long wait to interconnect.

In a new report, Camus Energy, encoord, and Princeton University’s ZERO Lab offer a two-part solution to what it describes as the current, frustrating process of “build first, connect later” that data centers face.

The first part requires that the data center secure a flexible grid connection, meaning it can receive both firm and conditional service. Doing so allows the data center to use grid power during normal conditions and on-site or co-located services when the grid is strained.

Next, the data centers must participate in a build-your-own-capacity program. Also known as BYOC, these programs allow the data center to use virtual power plants (VPP), on-site generation or other resources to procure the accredited capacity needed to meet firm-service requirements. These resources are generally faster to secure than new utility-scale power.