Airports and Data Centers: Perfect Partners for Energy Infrastructure Colocation?
When the case for microgrids is being made across the commercial and industrial customer base, two sectors which stand out as attractive use cases for islandable on-site power are data centers and airports. Both need energy 24/7, both are mission-critical in national security and economic well-being, and both are seeking sustainability and resiliency.
They sound perfect for each other.
Such a union of tactical sensibility is at the heart of a new report by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly National Renewable Energy Laboratory). “Unlocking Synergistic Benefits of Colocation of Data Centers at Airports” contends that since both data centers and airports are evolving with common goals such as resource sustainability and logistic imperatives, bringing them together would be efficient and forward-thinking from an energy standpoint.
“When developers are required to bear more of the cost for energy infrastructure, they look for solutions to lower their costs,” reads a passage or the report collaboration between several researchers at NRL.
“Like data centers, airports require massive electrical capacity, so utilities often build large substations, redundant feeders, and high-voltage transmission lines near airports,” the NRL section on derisking the investment continues. “Siting data centers near airport infrastructure can reduce interconnection times and substation upgrade costs and may delay the need to upgrade local distribution grids.”
Airports already onboard with microgrids
Large airports are increasingly choosing microgrid solutions when they undertake major upgrades to facilities and operations. One such microgrid is under construction as part of New York JFK International Airport’s New Terminal One project, led by developer AlphaStruxure, Schneider Electric and other partners.
Data center developers also are enthusiastic about behind-the-meter, on-site prime power and even off-grid energy alternatives to avoid long grid interconnection delays.
The world is even more digitally connected, and protecting those assets together deserves the highest priority, NRL noted.
“U.S. data centers and airports are defined by the United States Department of Transportation as critical infrastructure and will become even more critical as industries become dependent on AI’s capabilities, including transportation, financial institutions, healthcare, emergency services, national security, and more. As such, reliable and continuous function is a matter of both national security and global competitiveness,” the national lab report reads. “Data centers require a continuous supply of electricity because their data and computation needs are often tied to critical mission systems. Even short disruptions can lead to data loss, service disruptions, and financial damages. Similarly, power disruption at airports can put lives at risk and disrupt commerce on a nationwide basis as a single closure cascades across the system.”
The operational and energy consumption peculiarities of airports and digital infrastructure could unite them in efficient common cause, the National Lab of the Rockies’ authors conclude. Electrification demand in nearly all sectors is leaving the runway and taking off, so collaboration certainly could make sense.
Strength in numbers, so to speak
“These collaborations can enhance energy security and resilience across critical infrastructure while also enabling smarter land use, reducing distribution and transmission spending, lowering development and operating costs, and even making productive use of waste heat,” the NRL authors write in conclusion.
Co-location of data centers and airports, even when unrelated, is happening more often than many realize. Loudoun County in northern Virginia has the nation’s largest density of digital infrastructure, with many of those facilities extremely close to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
“The path forward begins with collaboration— developing the data, conducting analyses, and quantifying the full range of benefits that co-located data centers and airports could provide.”
The two sides are already often close to each other. Someone must ask the other if they want to dance. Microgrids interconnecting airports and data centers, utilizing the energy flow in the most efficient and local manner possible, could bring the music harmonizing the dance.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing EditorRod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 18 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 36-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.