Resilient Design and Optimal Operation of Battery Energy Storage Systems for Behind-the-Meter Data Center Microgrids

Abstract

This paper proposes a high-fidelity hyperscale data center load modeling framework that disaggregates facility demand into IT and non-IT components and represents load behavior at second- and minute-level resolutions. Building upon this foundation, a comprehensive multi-phase optimization framework is developed for the planning and resilient design of BESS for BTM data center microgrids. The framework deploys BESS on the load side to act as a dynamic buffer between stochastic demand and generation assets. By smoothing the load spikes and excursions before they are observed by gas turbines, the load-side BESS reduces operational stress and limits conditions that can contribute to SSTI issues, shaft fatigue, system trips, equipment damage, and forced outages. Simultaneously, generation-side BESS resources are optimally sized to provide spinning reserves and enhance system resilience. The proposed methodology co-optimizes BESS with solar, wind, natural gas fuel cells, simple-cycle gas turbines, and combined-cycle gas turbines while incorporating operational, reliability, resiliency, and technology-specific constraints. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed methodology's ability to identify cost-effective, resilient, and operationally feasible designs that satisfy the demanding reliability requirements and energy market challenges of next-generation hyperscale data centers while providing planning insights for investors, developers, and system operators.