Utilities evaluate data center interconnections on peak capacity, not annual energy
Brian Janous · When to colocate data centers with generation · Sep 12, 2025 · at 18:56
Brian Janous, co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure and former VP of Energy at Microsoft, discusses power grid interconnection mechanics with Shayle Kann.
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“The problem we're trying to solve here is not that I need a 24 seven generation to match a 24 seven load. It's that I need to solve for The summer peaks and the winter system peaks in order to connect alone. That's what a utility does, and I think it's a, I think there's a misunderstanding that when you go to utility and say, okay, where's the power going to come from? The utility goes and solves for 8760 hours. Where's your power going to come from? That's not what they do. They look at would the incremental addition of this load on the system cause me to exceed what I can supply on the hottest summer day and the coldest winter morning. So first of all, it's a capacity problem, not an energy problem.”
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