VEDA - moVE DAta to balance the grid: research directions and recommendations for exploiting data centers flexibility within the power system

This paper aims at discussing visions and research directions to investigate the value of data centers flexibility within sustainable electrical energy systems. While optimizing the energy consumption and task scheduling within data centers located in different time zones and connected at national and international level, it is possible to balance the local power grids, to allow a better penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources, and a more economical way to address peak demand by avoiding or postponing costly investments in network expansion. Challenges and opportunities that behind the exploitation of data centers flexibility within sustainable electrical energy systems will be discussed. An interdisciplinary approach to tackle these kind of problems will be proposed, and visions for a novel framework called VEDA (moVE DAta to balance the grid) will be outlined.