Welcome to the Data Center Flexible Load (DCFlex) Newsletter! This month, we’re sharing new research, partnerships, and upcoming activities showing how flexibility can improve grid reliability, affordability, and faster access to power for large loads.

2026 Discussion Paper: A Proposed Framework to Assess Headroom for Integrating Data Centers into Regional Power Systems: The DCFlex team just released a framework that defines and measures available system "headroom", the additional load a grid can absorb, particularly from fast-growing data centers, without adding new generation, storage, or transmission infrastructure.

Unlike existing studies, it gives system planners both a concrete methodology for evaluating headroom potential and a pathway for deploying Flex MOSAIC™ flexibility classes to realize this potential. Read more here.

What We're Learning

1. Flex MOSAIC™. Last month we launched Flex MOSAIC, a uniform flexibility classification framework for large electric loads. Flex MOSAIC establishes a shared, credible way to define and communicate load flexibility, particularly for data centers, based on practical performance characteristics such as magnitude, timing, duration, and frequency of response. Learn more about Flex MOSAIC.
   
   

2. State-level EPRI research on AI-driven load growth. EPRI’s Powering Intelligence white paper presents updated scenarios for U.S. data center electricity demand and evolving power strategies, showing that projected demand growth is sixty percent higher than estimates from eighteen months ago. The projections vary by state, and a new dashboard allows users to view and download full state-by-state picture here.
   
   

3. DCFlex | NRECA collaboration. David Porter, Vice President of electrification and sustainable energy strategy at EPRI, spoke on NRECA’s podcast, Along Those Lines: Unpacking the Surge in U.S. Electricity Demand. He discussed power demand growth drivers and possible disruptions to demand outlooks with NRECA’s Vice President of innovation and emerging technology, Lidija Sekaric.

By the Numbers

• 65+ Organizations now collaborating in DCFlex across utilities, independent system operators, hyperscalers, OEMs, and tech companies. 
• 50+ Supporters have added their names to an open letter supporting Flex MOSAIC. Add your name at Flex MOSAIC™ | DCFlex.
• 10-40% load reductions in a UK‑based DCFlex demonstration. It found the shifting of non‑urgent compute workloads to off‑peak periods, for durations ranging from 30 minutes to 10 hours, was possible, while maintaining near‑full performance for critical tasks. Learn more here.

Stop by and say “Hi” to a DCFlex Team Member!

David Porter

May 7 | Innovators Summit 2026

Morgan Scott

May 6–7 | Energy and Climate Research Seminar

Jessica Lin

May 19 | Harvard University’s Power and AI Research Summit

June 4 | NCSL’s Energy Supply Task Force Meeting

June 9–10 | Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum

Anuja Ratnayake

May 5–6 | NARUC’s NCEP 2026 Annual Meeting

May 11–13 | Sonoma Executive Series: Powering the AI Expansion

Robin Hytowitz

May 13 | RMI’s Great American Grid Dinner

Frank Sharp

May 12–14 | DTech Data Centers and AI

Parag Mitra

May 4–7 | IEEE PES T&D Expo Conference

June 15–17 | ESIG Summer Workshop

Ben York

May 4–7 | IEEE PES T&D Expo Conference

Like this newsletter? Our members receive this and so much more! To learn more about joining DCFlex, reach out to our team at DCFlex@epri.com or visit https://dcflex.epri.com.

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