This report reviews current industry practice and identifies where standards work is needed to protect IT loads, keep grids stable, and accommodate the next decade of capacity growth. Coverage spans power distribution architecture (ac, dc, and hybrid), redundancy and load-priority design, system and personnel protection, AI workload consumption patterns, disturbance response, cooling from room level to direct-to-chip, and grid interaction. The recommendations are organized by standards-development cycle urgency, breadth of grid impacts, and prerequisite ordering. The fundamental objective is to achieve a harmonious interface between the data centers and the grid, while assuring protection for critical data center loads. This in turn implies an urgent need to provide data center developers and operators with specific requirements for interface design and clearly-defined, measurable definitions of interoperability needs.
- Status
- Published White Paper
- History
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- Published:
- 2026-09-10
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