Data centre surge triggers CEA study on grid stability

New Delhi: As states from Andhra Pradesh to West Bengal witness a data centre boom, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has set up a committee to assess the impact of these power- and water-guzzling facilities on the country's power system and grid stability

The committee is also examining potential cybersecurity risks, as the power sector was a key target of cyberattacks during the India-Pakistan conflict amid Operation Sindoor, people familiar with the development told ET.

The concern is already evident on the ground, with states flagging the need for massive electricity supplies to service data centres in the near future.

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The immediate trigger for setting up the committee came after the Eastern Regional Power Committee recently red-flagged concerns raised by Odisha over grid-linked operational challenges arising from "large collective market purchases" by the industry, according to minutes of CEA committee meetings reviewed by ET.

At a meeting of CEA's National Committee on Transmission in June, the Central Transmission Utility of India (CTUIL) noted that West Bengal was projecting "a substantial load" of 200-300 MVA (MegaVolt-Amperage) for data centres in and around New Town and Rajarhat, with 24x7 load characteristics in the coming years.

The country's installed data-centre power capacity has grown to 1,575 MW from 375 MW in 2020, according to a government statement in August. The CEA expects electricity demand from data centres to reach about 17 GW by 2031-32.

Currently, data centres are located largely in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Jamnagar, but are fast expanding to other states.

The recently instituted panel will examine the operations, policy and regulatory aspects related to large data centres and submit its findings to CEA's National Power Committee (NPC), ET has gathered.

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The committee - which has representatives on board from various stakeholder bodies including National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC), tech industry body Nasscom and CTUIL - has already held multiple meetings. Grid Controller of India (Grid-India) has submitted a technical note on the same.

The NPC has already held a round of discussions in its February meeting, where members noted data centres typically exhibit high constant power loads, with surges linked to global time zones and possible "impact on grid behaviour."

It was felt that this warranted a study to assess the electricity load behaviour patterns of data centres, their implications and impact on grid stability, and the possible need for separate classification or regulatory treatment.