Data center growth has just lapped the oil industry.
In November 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a report stating that global investment in data centers was expected to reach $580 billion, $40 billion more than worldwide spending on new oil supplies.
With growth, though, comes challenges. The worldwide demand to build and operate data centers, including those needed to meet the increasing demands of artificial intelligence, has forced some regions hosting these facilities to experience infrastructure bottlenecks and risks to electrical grid reliability.
In response to this issue, an IEEE SA Industry Connections group recently released “Review of Industry Efforts and Standards of Grid Readiness For Data Center Deployment,” a report that provides an overview of the various efforts underway to develop technical requirements for protecting the grid against potential risks associated with large-scale data center operations.
The scope of the paper covers efforts by grid operators, utilities, industry trade groups and associations, along with standard-setting bodies.
Specifically, the report reviews these efforts to provide recommendations for new IEEE standards and definitions to address the challenges posed by data center deployment. By identifying common grid requirements between grid operators and utilities for data centers, the report can also guide the development of these recommended harmonized grid standards to accelerate data center development while assuring grid reliability.
The review of these ongoing efforts yields a roadmap for future standards development, which the report highlights. The companion report will address the performance issues from the perspective of providing effective protection for IT systems of the data centers. The reports, which only cover technical issues, are not designed to compile data on regulatory, governmental, and policy measures aimed at reducing financial risks to utilities and their customers or fostering faster growth of the AI industry.
Global Standardization is Key
The report makes several recommendations, most notably the need for global standardization. “As grid codes with specific performance requirements for data centers continue to emerge worldwide, the need for global standardization is becoming increasingly important,” the paper states.
As the paper notes, “Computing hardware is typically designed to a single standard and deployed globally. Historically, the design of computing hardware and data centers primarily focused on the needs internal to the facility and the customers’ requirements. However, data centers are now subject to diverse requirements imposed by grid codes worldwide, each with their own distinct requirements.”
Ultimately, the report suggests that “IEEE develop standards regarding data center grid performance similar to IEEE Std 2800-2022 for inverter-based resources.”
These standards should build on the grid codes being developed by utilities and grid operators, noted in the report. These standards, performance requirements, and definitions should be implemented at a site level in a technology-neutral manner.
The report suggests the new standards and definitions for data centers should include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Standard for Data Center Interconnection Process and Data Requirements
- Standard for Data Center Performance Requirements and Interoperability
- Standard for the Coordination of Co-Located Generation Facilities and Data Center Facilities
- Standard for Data Center Modeling in Power System Studies
- Data center flexibility requirements and definitions
IEEE SA Industry Connections Activity
To aid in these ongoing efforts, IEEE SA formed the Data Centers: Standards Needs Analysis and Recommendations Industry Connections activity, acknowledging the essential role standards play in ensuring grid reliability.
This effort has set a series of objectives to review the ongoing industry efforts on data center related standards to examine where gaps and overlaps may exist in industry efforts, identify the current state of standards relevant to data centers, assess anticipated future needs for such standards, and define a path for the standards community to help assure reliable operations of both data centers and the power system.
The goal of this initiative is to identify the current state of standards relevant to data centers, the anticipated future state needed, and to define a path for the standards community to reach that future state.
Topical areas include interconnection challenges from the grid to data center, understanding data center energy load challenges and localized needs, and the ability to predict and meet energy and demand requirements.
Getting involved
This activity requires support from a variety of stakeholders, including those involved with data center design, deployment, operations, and energy issues, along with those involved in grid operations, planning, modeling, and interconnection.
To learn more about the program and how to join the Data Centers: Standards Needs Analysis and Recommendations activity, you can express your interest by completing the Data Centers: Standards Needs Analysis and Recommendations interest form.
