Evolving a Data Center Into a Microgrid: Industry perspectives and lessons learned

Abstract

For decades, data center operators have been drawn to the eastern stretches of Oregon and Washington State, USA. In contrast to the coastal climate that most people conjure when thinking of the Pacific Northwest, the land east of the Cascade Mountains is relatively flat, dry in the summer, and snowy in the winter. Affordable prices for land, tax breaks, and cheap hydroelectric power have made the region one of the main hubs of data center development in the United States, with Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft all investing in multiple campuses.