The challenge of meeting power capacity requirements on a continuous upward trajectory amidst the concern of an aging grid, delays to transmission distribution and a slowdown in renewable power generation from Ashburn, to Frankfurt, and Dublin has dominated headlines in the past year. While the modernization of the grid is no easy feat, a combination of lesser used energy reliance on nuclear and hydro, coupled with increased investment in solar and wind power and battery storage innovation could help to engineer a 'energy independent' future for the modern data center.

We ask our panel of energy procurement experts to provide insight on the current grid-utility constraint, the energy mix likely to power the data center of the future, and their thoughts on the role power storage could play in demand response and load balancing.