New modeling by Nicholas Institute experts focused primarily on the economic benefits of data center load flexibility, but it also pointed the way to reducing high-emitting natural gas plants by replacing them with solar, wind and battery storage. Author Martin Ross spoke with The Energy Mix about some of the key findings of the analysis and what additional data is needed "to evaluate how the system will respond to the growth in data centers."

Building on previous Duke University research, a new Nicholas Institute report finds flexible data center operations could favor renewable development over gas and result in up to $150 billion in cumulative savings for energy customers. Authors Martin Ross and Jackson Ewing talked with Latitude Media about their analysis and the potential impacts of flexibility to other grid stakeholders—and the grid itself—in the next decade.

Demand flexibility among data centers could reduce the need for new gas-fired generation to supply their energy consumption while driving development of additional renewables and cutting electricity prices, according to a new Nicholas Institute report. Author Martin Ross dug into the details of the findings with RTO Insider.

Even modest measures to curb data centers’ energy use during peak hours could substantially reduce the amount of new generation capacity needed to meet growing U.S. electricity demands over the next decade, according to a new Nicholas Institute report. Modeling of a range of scenarios indicates data center flexibility could also shift investment from natural gas toward renewables and reduce electricity prices for both data centers and retail customers.

Data centers are coming to North Carolina, raising questions about infrastructure costs, energy sources and community impact. State Rep. Jeff McNeely (R-Iredell), Tim Profeta (Nicholas Institute) and Nick Jimenez (Southern Environmental Law Center) offered some answers during a roundtable discussion on PBS North Carolina's "State Lines."

The interim report puts forth a set of recommendations to ensure that North Carolinians have affordable, reliable and clean energy supplies amid rapidly growing demand for energy, according to a press release from Gov. Stein's office. Recommendations include developing "options to encourage load flexibility," an issue that Nicholas Institute expert and task force member Tim Profeta is studying with Duke University colleagues.

As artificial intelligence accelerates a wave of massive new data centers, North Carolina’s race to power AI is colliding with its climate goals and could reshape water use, emissions and electricity costs for decades, WRAL reports. “This is a statewide climate and infrastructure question,” said Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing. “And it’s arriving faster than the regulatory framework designed to manage it.”

Duke postdoctoral fellow Dimitris Floros is working with the Nicholas School of the Environment's GRACE Lab to explore whether the existing grid could be run in a “smarter” way by analyzing, understanding and reconciling uncertainty and modeling it. An evolution of the GRACE work, the Nicholas Institute brings together modelers such as Floros with lawyers, market experts and policy scholars to answer a pressing question: How can massive new loads—especially AI-driven data centers—connect to the grid without wrecking reliability or affordability?

A World Economic Forum article suggests five priorities for the data center boom that could both enhance the value of digital infrastructure investments and address concerns related to hyperscaler data centers. The article quotes from a 2025 Nicholas Institute report: "Hyperscaler data centers are neither wholly boon nor wholly bane; they are a powerful force whose trajectory depends on choices we make today."

U.S. energy policy is colliding with explosive electricity demand from AI, rising power prices and growing political backlash. Nicholas Institute Director Brian Murray writes about how policy uncertainty, grid constraints and the Intelligence Age are reshaping the energy landscape in 2025—and what to watch next.

Price responsiveness informs utility forecasts of load growth and peak demand, regulatory evaluations of investments and rate structures and government analyses of energy policies and their impacts. A new report from Duke University experts presents updated estimates of one measure of price responsiveness in the U.S. residential electricity market—the price elasticity of demand for electricity—and explores how it varies across all 50 states.

What role can data center flexibility play in next-generation electric power systems? In this webinar held Dec. 9, hear about new modeling research from the GRACE Lab at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and get expert insights from the energy and tech sectors.

A recently published Duke University report outlines a strategy for utilities to meet the nearly 100 GW of projected power demands of AI and data centers with existing grid capacity. The key is for utilities and data center operators to work together in a collaborative way that utilizes flexible load management, writes Matt Green (TRC Companies) in a post for Factor This.

Tim Profeta is an executive in residence at the Nicholas Institute whose areas of expertise include climate change and energy policy, the Clean Air Act, and adaptive use of current environmental laws to address evolving environmental challenges. Part of a Duke Climate Commitment series of climate research profiles.

New Jersey Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill announced Nicholas Institute Executive in Residence Tim Profeta as one of the 17 experts who will serve on her "Making Energy More Affordable and Reliable" transition action team.