Coordinating Power Grid Frequency Regulation Service with Data Center Load Flexibility

2026-01-30

AI Summary

This study addresses the hidden carbon emissions resulting from the growing reliance of power grids on fossil-fuel-based frequency regulation to support the rapid expansion of AI/ML data centers. To mitigate this issue, the work proposes leveraging the inherent flexibility of GPU data center workloads to participate in grid frequency regulation, thereby reducing dependence on conventional regulation resources through coordinated scheduling. The paper introduces a novel metric—“exogenous carbon”—to quantify the grid-side carbon reduction benefits enabled by data center participation in frequency regulation and develops the EcoCenter framework to maximize the dispatchable regulation capacity of such facilities. Experimental results demonstrate that the exogenous carbon reductions achieved through this approach typically exceed the operational carbon emissions of the data centers themselves, substantially enhancing overall carbon efficiency.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Efficient ML / Green AI
• Humans and AI: Other Foundations of Human Computation & AI
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Sustainability and carbon-aware systems for Web, mobile, and WoT
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic ramifications for generative AI infrastructure and applications
• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance

Abstract

AI/ML data center growth have led to higher energy consumption and carbon emissions. The shift to renewable energy and growing data center energy demands can destabilize the power grid. Power grids rely on frequency regulation reserves, typically fossil-fueled power plants, to stabilize and balance the supply and demand of electricity. This paper sheds light on the hidden carbon emissions of frequency regulation service. Our work explores how modern GPU data centers can coordinate with power grids to reduce the need for fossil-fueled frequency regulation reserves. We first introduce a novel metric, Exogenous Carbon, to quantify grid-side carbon emission reductions resulting from data center participation in regulation service. We additionally introduce EcoCenter, a framework to maximize the amount of frequency regulation provision that GPU data centers can provide, and thus, reduce the amount of frequency regulation reserves necessary. We demonstrate that data center participation in frequency regulation can result in Exogenous carbon savings that oftentimes outweigh Operational carbon emissions.

Problem

• frequency regulation
• data center load flexibility
• carbon emissions
• power grid stability
• renewable energy integration

Innovation

• Exogenous Carbon
• EcoCenter
• frequency regulation
• data center load flexibility
• carbon emissions reduction