Abstract

Global cumulative investment in data centers between 2026 and 2030 is projected to reach $3 trillion. This explosive growth is straining electric grids worldwide. This white paper summarizes the IEEE SA Industry Connections report (IC25-004), which surveys active efforts by grid operators, utilities, regulators, and standards bodies to develop the technical requirements needed to safely and reliably interconnect large-scale data centers with the bulk power system (BPS). The central finding: while many organizations are responding, there is a critical lack of harmonized, global standards — a gap that IEEE is uniquely positioned to fill.