Commercial and Industrial Microgrids Grow Amid Data Center Strain

Elisa Wood reports: Commercial and industrial customers are increasingly adopting bridge power and microgrids as data centers strain grid capacity.

• Main announcement: Elisa Wood reports that C&I customers are deploying bridge power and microgrids to maintain operations while awaiting utility interconnection; utilities have already committed 64 GW of new data center capacity, and ICF International forecasts US power demand to grow 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050. The article cites typical interconnection lead times of 2–5 years for ~20 MW and that onsite systems can achieve a 6–8 year return on investment when used as backup and for grid services.
• Background and details: The piece notes rising electricity costs (EIA: average +5.8% Aug 2024–Aug 2025; DC +26.5%), PJM capacity auctions posted record-high prices, and that onsite natural-gas generation (grid-connected) offers better economics/reliability than diesel per a National Laboratory of the Rockies study; microgrids also help reduce demand charges and yield “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in savings for some large users.