Emilia Chojkiewicz, Duncan Callaway, Amol Phadke
UC Berkeley and LBNL
Monday, January 26, 2026
4:00-5:00pm
241 Giannini Hall, UC Berkeley
“Utilizing Noncoincident Needs to Site Data Centers with Solar+Storage at Existing Gas Plants“
Abstract: Data centers are power hungry, raising concerns that rapid load growth unmatched by timely capacity additions could strain grid reliability and increase electricity costs. Conventional approaches to integrating new capacity face growing barriers, including multi-year interconnection queues and supply-chain constraints for new natural gas generation. We show that co-locating solar+storage systems with underutilized natural gas plants offers a practical pathway for near-term, low-cost industrial power by leveraging surplus interconnection service—unused grid capacity at existing plants. Using eight years of hourly weather data, we co-optimize load and hybrid solar+storage+gas configurations at 57 existing plants near data center developments, meeting over 95% of demand with solar+storage. Levelized costs across these sites range from $70–120/MWh, competitive with data centers’ recent 24/7 clean power contract prices. Conflict analysis indicates minimal overlap between periods of grid stress and solar+storage backup needs across most regions of the U.S., allowing gas units to cost-effectively provide dual services: facilitating large load integration while supporting grid reliability.