Technical Assistance

The Department of Energy Office of Electricity’s Voices of Experience: Data Center Integration (VoE: Data Center)—a series of informal peer-to-peer roundtable conversations—focuses on the intersection of data centers and the grid. This effort convenes stakeholders for open dialogue and active listening to enhance learning and compile firsthand insights from those at the forefront of the intersection of data centers and the grid.

The effort is intended to foster open dialogue, bridge disparate perspectives, and cross-pollinate ideas among stakeholders to identify solutions. Findings from the effort will be disseminated in a report that captures the collective voice of participants (report forthcoming Fall 2026).

Our researchers have engaged an advisory committee to discuss and direct LBNL research related to the development of a new resource adequacy information tool. The committee includes staff from a variety of organizations such as independent system operators, state public utility commissions, developers, research entities, and consultants. The engagement with the variety of stakeholders has already helped to direct and advise research and will help to ensure the outputs are useful to a wide audience.

The Maine Department of Energy Resources (DOER) sought technical assistance from DOE's State Technical Assistance Program for researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory to provide strategic input, facilitate coordinated state planning, and evaluate policy tools to address emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) data center development opportunities and considerations for Maine. DOER convened the Maine Data Center Advisory Council, a stakeholder group tasked with evaluating complex policy questions associated with potential AI data center development, with a focus on energy and infrastructure.

The Hawai‘i State Energy Office (HSEO) sought technical assistance from researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Laboratory of the Rockies via  DOE's State Technical Assistance Program to support the State of Hawai‘i’s efforts to assess, plan for, and responsibly regulate the rapid growth of large-scale data centers, with a focus on understanding and mitigating their significant impacts on electricity demand, water use, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions. HSEO also sought expert assistance on considerations for forward-looking grid portfolio and resource adequacy modeling work, considering the addition of new large loads onto the electric grid, as incorporated into grid planning processes.

The DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) sought technical assistance from researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory via  DOE's State Technical Assistance Program to identify opportunities for states to engage in PJM’s large load forecast adjustment process. In response to DOEE’s request, LBNL wrote a technical brief, State Roles and Functions in PJM’s Large Load Forecast Adjustments that describes PJM’s proposed forecast adjustment process, describes relevant electric retail regulator authority’s (RERRA) role in forecasting in other ISO/RTOs and considerations for RERRA participation in PJM’s forecasting approach. (Technical brief forthcoming Summer 2026).

To accelerate energy savings, the data center industry and the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) partnered to develop the Data Center Energy Practitioner (DCEP) Program. The DCEP training program certifies energy practitioners qualified to evaluate energy status and efficiency opportunities in data centers.