The data center industry has stopped debating whether they need batteries. The pressing question now is how to actually design, deploy, and operate sophisticated energy storage systems at gigawatt scale.
The answer is being worked out in rooms filled with data center IT engineers, project developers, EPCs, power generators, and energy storage providers, all partnering to build at unprecedented speed and magnitude. FlexGen CEO Kelcy Pegler and COO Hugh Scott have been in those rooms with the first movers — the teams turning to advanced energy storage systems and controls software as the connective tissue across the entire data center power plant.
In this Frontier Forum, Kelcy and Hugh join Latitude Media’s Stephen Lacey to share their lessons learned from the front lines. They will trace the shift from theory to practice over the past 18 months as first movers discover just how versatile energy storage infrastructure can be and how to architect systems for the future.
What begins as a battery capable of responding in milliseconds quickly becomes something much bigger: a power conversion and controls platform capable of smoothing massive compute loads, operating as UPS infrastructure, orchestrating onsite generation, islanding from the grid, black starting, and resynchronizing complex systems. That realization is changing how data center power architecture is designed, turning campuses into sophisticated power plants that can be built on increasingly tight timelines.
Key questions we’ll address:
- Which partners can help define the power architecture for a data center?
- The three most important parts of the system: How do the battery, PCS, and EMS work together as orchestration tools rather than solely storage or backup?
- What’s driving the shift toward medium-voltage architectures?
- Why can’t gas turbine generators or small modular reactors solve this alone?
- How should developers finance and contract a complex, multi-partner data center power system?
- What are the key technical considerations for design and deployment?
- What happens when the rules, limitations, or constraints change in three to five years?
- Who should operate the system once it’s built?
Can’t join the event live? Register to receive a recording after the event.
