Data center summit explores the complexities in powering the digital ecosystem

The challenge around data centers is really not a challenge that any single entity can address. So we need really people from industry, from utilities, from government, from regulators, data center developers, and of course the business side. The obvious need to have a solution for electrical power. I mean, that is just a massive need. How are we going to deal with it? What are the technology solutions that we can deploy so that, from a power perspective, we can meet that accelerating demand? The biggest challenge is the size and complexity, the systems and the infrastructure necessary in this space. But that's where really advanced modeling changes the world. I think everybody is realizing that we really need different partners to be able to address the huge demands that data centers are putting on our power system, the demands that they put on our communities, and of course, all the questions around affordability and fairness. Virginia Tech has a really important role to play in convening partners from not just academia and industry, but from all different types of organizations to come together to really talk about what the biggest challenges are that we're all trying to work towards. The world of data centers, of AI, of thinking about how we develop and operate this really important infrastructure, not just for the Commonwealth, but for the nation. And so the things that we're discovering here now, the ways that we work together, the ways that we solve these solutions in Virginia, are going to have impact not just across the United States, but worldwide.