Featured in Mountains to climb – 05-2026

Powering design

There is a lot of focus on the challenges of building data centers and obtaining grid connections for power, but what about design considerations? As chips become more powerful and compute tasks more demanding, data center developers’ ability to adapt their facilities to an uncertain energy future will distinguish them from competitors.

By

Blathnaid O’Dea

11 May 2026

Rooftop of a data center with a solar installation.

The roof of this data center features cooling towers and backup generators.

Data center developers often say they want to create “grid assets” and many have big environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments that include clean power goals. Building ESG into data centers at the design stage can help data center developers secure financing, grid connections, and policy support. Many are opting to retrofit battery storage to …

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