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DOE-Backed NLR Launches Agora Grid Test Bed for Data Centers

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The National Laboratory of the Rockies launched Agora, a new grid integration platform designed to help data centers support power reliability, it said in a Tuesday statement.

The US Department of Energy-backed project replicates the technical complexity of large-scale data center interconnections and marks the first dedicated large-load grid integration test bed across the national laboratory system, the NLR said.

NLR developed Agora with support from the DOE's Office of Electricity and industry partners to address growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centers.

"We built a 20th-century grid - but today we serve a 21st-century, data-driven, AI-enabled economy," Katie Jereza, assistant secretary at DOE's Office of Electricity, said.

The laboratory said most data centers currently operate only as large electricity consumers, while utilities have limited visibility into whether facilities can reduce or shift power use during grid stress events.

NLR said flexible operations at large facilities such as data centers could lower electricity costs and help utilities avoid rolling blackouts during periods of peak demand.

Major industry partners including Schneider Electric, Compass Datacenters and Verrus are already using Agora to test approaches for integrating large electricity loads into the grid.

"As data centers become one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in the US, utilities are being asked to manage large loads at a scale and speed the grid was not originally designed for," Jaquelin Cochran of NLR said.

NLR said Agora creates a plug-and-play environment that brings together utilities, technology providers, researchers and data center developers to coordinate large-load grid integration strategies.

Agora will operate alongside other DOE-funded grid management systems under the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems platform focused on reliable, secure and affordable energy technologies.

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