Integrated energy systems of data centers and smart grids: State-of-the-art and future opportunities

Abstract Cloud computing platforms are critical cyber infrastructures in modern society. As the backbone of cloud systems, data centers act as large energy consumers in today’s power grids. The integration of on-site renewable energy sources and energy storage systems further transforms data centers to be energy prosumers (producers-and-consumers). As a result, optimizing data centers’ energy production and consumption, and exploiting their potential of actively engaging in the external grid’s planning, operation, and control has been drawing increasing attention in the last few years. This paper conducts a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art research efforts on integrated energy systems of data centers and smart grids. A taxonomy of such integration scenarios is provided. Consequently, this paper identifies several future application scenarios of integrating data centers and smart grids, which serves as a roadmap towards future research. This article is expected to provide a useful reference for researchers and engineers in the areas of energy systems and cloud computing.