Energy Secretary Chris Wright has directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to standardize large load interconnections, but the advance notice of proposed rulemaking leaves open many critical questions. Former FERC Commissioner Allison Clements and Tyler Norris, lead author of a seminal Duke paper on load flexibility, talked with Latitude Media about some of those considerations.

A seminal white paper from Duke University researchers suggests "headroom" available for data centers to reduce their energy consumption during system peaks could unlock up to 100 GW of spare capacity to integrate these large loads. Elizabeth K. Whitney, managing principal at Meguire Whitney, writes in Latitude Media about how hyperscalers would need to curtail their energy use from the grid to tap into that headroom.

As a Ph.D. student and research fellow, Tyler Norris’ work is shaping industry and policy conversations, with bipartisan policy efforts, academic impact and a new career opportunity, Duke Today reveals in a new profile. A study on rethinking load growth in U.S. power systems that Norris co-authored has made waves across the energy sector. His research has led to a spot on the 2025 TIME100 Climate list, a guest essay in The New York Times and a new position at Google focused on energy innovation—and more.

For 20 years, the Nicholas Institute has pursued the “quest for yes”— bringing people together across differences, grounding big ideas in evidence and co-creating durable solutions to environmental and energy challenges. On Oct. 23, the institute welcomed students, scholars, alumni and partners in the community to an anniversary celebration that blended reflection with forward momentum.

Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider rulemaking to fast-track interconnection for large loads—as long as they agree to be curtailable or colocate with dispatchable generation. Former FERC Commissioner Allison Clements and Duke Ph.D. student Tyler Norris joined the Catalyst podcast to discuss what the proposal actually means for interconnection.

How can new data centers for artificial intelligence be sustainably and responsibly powered on the current U.S. electrical grid? A Duke University panel discussion, held at The Nest Main Stage during Climate Week NYC 2025, delivered insights into how to manage electrical loads flexibly and power the AI future sustainably.

At Climate Week New York City 2025, two themes resonated throughout Duke University’s presence: innovation and connections. Duke Today recapped some of the nearly dozen events across the week that Duke experts—including several from the Nicholas Institute—participated in. The events connected climate to finance, health, oceans, technology and more.

Two law professors are proposing a system called "demand side connect-and-manage" to help electricity markets cope with data center energy demands. The idea is "one of the most important contributions yet toward the re-examination of basic assumptions of U.S. electricity law that’s urgently needed as hyperscale load growth pushes our existing regulatory system beyond its limits," Duke University Ph.D. student Tyler Norris, who co-authored concept-defining work on data center flexibility, told Heatmap News.

A new proposal calls for moving away from requiring the grid to have enough power plant capacity to accommodate all users at all times, and instead treat data centers and other superusers as a separate customer class with special rules and added flexibility, reports Inside Climate News. Even a bit of flexibility could have substantial ramifications for reducing the need to build new power plants, as demonstrated by a February analysis by Duke University researchers.

"Necessity is the mother of invention. And right now we’re in a supply-constrained environment where it takes a substantial amount of time to get generation and transmission expansions," Tyler Norris, lead author of an influential Duke University study, told Energywire. "To the extent that demand response can be exchanged for an accelerated interconnection or some speed upside, that’s the holy grail for hyperscalers."

Google recently announced two new utility agreements that rely on demand response, a strategy that schedules and manages energy-intensive computing workloads to boost energy efficiency, reports The Energy Mix. The announcement cited a Duke University study that found flexibility is "a promising, near-term strategy for addressing structural transformations in the U.S. electric power system."

If data centers could commit to not requiring power at times of extremely high demand, they could essentially piggyback on existing grid infrastructure, reports Heatmap News. Widely cited research by Duke University scholars demonstrated that curtailing large loads for as little as 0.5% of their annual uptime could allow almost 100 gigawatts of new demand to connect to the grid without requiring extensive, costly upgrades.

Duke University researchers caused a stir earlier in the year with a paper on large load flexibility, the ability of data centers to reduce their power usage at times of low demand or when the grid is under strain. "Necessity is the mother of invention," lead author Tyler Norris told the Financial Times. "We have extreme supply chain constraints right now, so either [the demand] will disappear entirely or it can be more flexible."
 

A new law in Texas requires data centers to cut their power during emergencies, such as the 2021 winter storm that caused widespread blackouts in the state. “It’s hard to overstate the significance in terms of the direction this is likely to push the data center industry,” Tyler Norris, a Ph.D. student at the Nicholas School of the Environment, told The Washington Post.

Google announced that it had reached agreements with Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to use flexible demand capabilities in its data centers, enabling the company to shift or reduce energy demand during times when the electrical grid is most stressed. Google cited a recent Duke University analysis that showed how load flexibility could help bridge the gap between short-term load growth and long-term clean energy solutions.