Large Load Performance Requirements: Current Practices and Recommendations by the ESIG Large Loads Task Force provides guidance for system operators and utilities as they develop interconnection performance requirements for large electronic loads tailored to their own jurisdictions.
This report is part of a set of four interrelated reports on large load interconnection performance requirements. Together, the series is intended to help system operators, utilities, and developers understand large load behavior, assess reliability risks, and develop interconnection performance requirements tailored to their jurisdictions. The series aims to ensure that as new large load classes expand, they do so in ways that strengthen—not compromise—the reliability and resilience of the grid. See:
- Large Load Disturbance Events
- Large Loads: Behaviors, Capabilities, and Limitations (coming soon)
- Reliability Impacts of Large, Power Electronics–Interfaced Loads (coming soon)
Today, the emergence of new types of large loads, such as data centers, crypto mining facilities, and others, introduces new high-impact behaviors to the power system. Unlike traditional industrial loads, these new loads feature the extensive use of power electronics, high power densities, and rapid power fluctuations that can adversely impact power system reliability. Interconnection performance requirements for large loads are critical for ensuring reliable grid operation.
As large loads grow in size and geographical concentration, their interaction with the grid can no longer be treated as a local power-quality issue alone. In the absence of clear and comprehensive interconnection requirements, system operators lack guardrails to manage reliability impacts, while large load developers face uncertainty about how their facilities need to be designed and operated from the perspective of bulk power system reliability. The report aims to close that gap and provide guidance on developing technically grounded interconnection requirements for new large loads.
Many of the emerging issues for new large loads are similar to issues that have arisen with inverter-based resources (IBRs) such as solar and wind plants, as well as battery storage systems, and utilities and grid operators can build on this experience. Similar to the requirements for IBRs, large load performance requirements need to be developed to safeguard the reliability of the system while also considering the capabilities and limitations of equipment at these facilities. Remaining reliability gaps will then need to be addressed by grid improvements and through operational practices.
Large electronic loads exhibit materially different behaviors and possess inherently different characteristics than loads historically supplied by the power system. The Large Loads Task Force examined those differences in detail, identified potential resultant impacts to the power system, and catalogued large electronic load–related disturbance events. The report provides an international survey of existing or proposed standards for each category of performance requirements and recommends a minimum set of performance requirement categories. Based on these, it details how system operators and utilities can approach the development of interconnection performance requirements tailored to their own jurisdictions.
Learn more about the work of ESIG’s Large Loads Task Force.