Artificial intelligence is pushing data centre power demand beyond a question of how much electricity can be generated. Increasingly, the challenge is delivering that electricity where and when it is needed while accommodating enormous loads that can fluctuate from one minute to the next. For operators that cannot compromise on uptime—and are under growing pressure to reduce emissions—energy storage is consequently moving from a backup function to a core component of infrastructure planning.
Few projects illustrate the scale of that shift more clearly than the proposed Laufenburg AI data centre and Technology Centre in Switzerland. The development is expected to incorporate a GWh-scale vanadium flow battery system from Vancouver-founded Invinity Energy Systems. Once fully operational, Invinity President and Co-Founder Matt Harper says the facility will consume more electricity than Zurich and Geneva combined.
Located at a critical intersection of the French, German and Swiss electricity grids, the project will test how long-duration storage can support continuous operations, reduce reliance on peak-period electricity and prevent a highly variable data centre load from placing additional costs on the wider grid. It could also offer a model for turning data centres from passive electricity consumers into active participants in the energy system.
In this interview with DataCentre.ca, Harper discusses why the AI power challenge is as much about flexibility as supply, how vanadium flow batteries compare with lithium-ion technology, and what British Columbia must do to translate its clean-power advantage into sustainable data centre growth.
AI is pushing data centre electricity demand into a new phase. From your vantage point, what is the biggest misconception about the energy challenge this sector is now creating?
MH: Data centre operators are scrambling for new sources of power. Because electric grids in the western world haven’t grown significantly in decades, this often means generating electricity on site. Renewables like solar power are a great, low-cost, easily deployed way of doing this; paired with batteries, a solar-plus-battery system is often the cheapest, fastest way to provide 24/7 power to new data centres.
But the biggest misconception is that the challenge is simply one of generating more electricity. In reality, the issue is increasingly about when and where that electricity is available. AI workloads are driving concentrations of demand that can exceed what local grids were designed to support, even in regions with abundant generation capacity. Also, those workloads can shift dramatically minute-by-minute, essentially meaning a massive load can appear and then disappear almost instantaneously. So the constraint is often power delivery and flexibility, not total energy supply.
Operators therefore need ways to manage variability in both demand and generation. High-throughput energy storage like vanadium flow batteries, which do not wear out in the same way as they cycle but can deliver hours of uninterrupted power, can help bridge that gap by shifting energy across time. Whether they’re looking to bridge gaps lasting seconds or hours, such batteries can enable greater use of renewable power and reduce pressure on grid infrastructure without compromising compute.
The Laufenburg project is expected to pair an AI data centre and Technology Centre with what Invinity describes as a GWh-scale vanadium flow battery system. What problem is that battery being designed to solve that conventional grid infrastructure or shorter-duration batteries cannot address on their own?
MH: Any data centre needs a robust, low-cost electricity supply. And this isn’t just any data centre: fully operational, it will draw more power than Zurich and Geneva combined. A battery designed to facilitate the interaction between that project and the Swiss grid will therefore need to serve three simultaneous needs:
- Ensure adequate power at all times, maintaining continuity of data centre operations
- Reduce reliance on consumption during peak periods, keeping data centre operating costs constrained; and
- Ensure the size and variability of the data centre load doesn’t increase the cost of operating the Swiss grid, costs that would ultimately be borne by Swiss households and businesses.
Laufenburg is the ideal place to make this happen, since its location at the intersection between the French, German and Swiss grids makes it a central node in the European grid network. But with unlimited energy available, it can be very difficult to manage this size and type of load. Energy storage can help smooth both supply and demand. With unlimited cycling capabilities, our technology is uniquely suited to this sort of high-utilistion use-case, which we will see more and more of in the future.
Data centres need reliability above almost everything else. How do long-duration flow batteries fit into a power strategy for operators that cannot afford downtime but also face growing pressure to reduce emissions?
MH: Flow batteries are one of the most flexible grid storage assets available. They can switch from charge to discharge in milliseconds, while providing hours of continuous power. They can regulate the flow of power to the data centre from the grid, or from on-site renewables or other generation, non-stop around the clock without the cycle-related degradation associated with many other battery technologies. They can be deployed faster than most sites can be built. And because they are fundamentally safer than other battery types, they can be installed where they’re needed.
For data centre operators, this more resilient energy architecture is enormously valuable. And that value goes beyond operational and economic factors: storage can absorb renewable generation when it is abundant and deliver it when needed, supporting both uptime objectives and emissions reductions by unlocking low-cost, low-carbon power on demand.
Invinity has positioned vanadium flow batteries as safe, durable, and well suited for utility-grade energy storage. What makes that chemistry especially relevant for large digital infrastructure projects compared with lithium-ion?
MH: Vanadium flow batteries are uniquely suited to applications where safety, longevity and predictable performance are essential. Because the energy is stored in a water-based electrolyte, the technology does not carry the same fire risk associated with lithium-ion batteries. That can be particularly important for large installations located near critical infrastructure – or in the Laufenburg project’s case, underneath it.
The technology also maintains performance over decades of operation and can be cycled continuously without significant degradation. For data centres expected to operate for decades, that combination of safety, durability and long-duration capability can offer a compelling advantage.
When people hear “battery,” they often think in terms of backup power. Should data centre operators be thinking about storage more strategically—as a way to shape demand, integrate renewables, and reduce strain on the grid?
MH: Absolutely. This is exactly what Flexbase is looking to do with this project. The good news is that in many regions, this can do more than ensure continuity at an operator’s own site to ensure continuity of their own sites: Operators can actively trade storage capacity on the electric grid, making money from the storage asset when it isn’t needed to support data centre operations.
Where this is possible, it fundamentally transforms the relationship between data centres and the grid. Rather than being passive consumers of electricity, data centres can become more active participants in the energy system, reducing strain on infrastructure while improving grid resilience, flexibility and ultimately costs.
British Columbia has launched a competitive process that includes up to 400 MW of allocation for AI and data centre projects in the first two years. What does that signal about the scale of the opportunity—and the challenge—for provinces with clean-power advantages?
MH: The opportunity and challenge for BC isn’t so much the availability of power. The province is currently well-served by low-carbon, low-cost operating assets; and the two most recent calls for power paint a picture of future supply that balances growing loads, low emissions and Indigenous ownership.
The challenge is cost. Investments in new power generation, and the network to distribute it, will need to be paid for. BC’s electricity users don’t want to foot the bill for data centre infrastructure that doesn’t benefit them directly, and that many already view with scepticism. Regulators have a strong role to play here, and they need to get it right: Pushing costs onto data centre operators risks causing BC to miss out on a significant economic opportunity; raising electricity rates to cover those costs will only lead to public backlash.
The opportunity is to design a framework in which data centres contribute appropriately to the infrastructure they require while also rewarding investments that improve utilisation of the existing grid.
As a Vancouver-founded company now helping design a world-scale project in Switzerland, what does Invinity’s role say about British Columbia’s ability to export clean-energy technology into the global data centre boom?
MH: It’s a tremendous validation of the value that made-in-BC solutions can deliver to the world. Over decades, British Columbia has developed a strong ecosystem of clean-technology expertise, supported by access to talent, training, capital and a culture of innovation and leadership. We have particular strengths in electrochemical systems such as those Invinity delivers, alongside a wider ecosystem of battery- and fuel cell-based technologies.
It is notable that some of the most significant inventions in the development of lithium-ion batteries were made here in the 1970s and 1980s. These technologies take time to develop, and the pool of inventors, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who can deliver them to market runs deep in our province.
Invinity’s project at Laufenburg demonstrates at a massive scale that companies emerging from the BC ecosystem can deliver groundbreaking solutions on a global scale. We firmly believe British Columbia is well positioned to our solutions and similar technologies that will help deliver the next generation of low-cost, low-carbon digital infrastructure.
Looking ahead, what would need to happen for long-duration energy storage to become a standard part of how major AI and data centre campuses are planned, financed, and connected to the grid?
MH: The key shift will be recognising long-duration storage as core infrastructure rather than an optional enhancement. As developers, utilities and policymakers gain experience with large-scale deployments, the economic and operational case for incorporating long duration storage will become clear, and the process for incorporating these solutions will become standardised and replicable. Storage will become part of data centre infrastructure plans, alongside generation and grid connections, from the earliest stages of project planning.
The Invinity team is thrilled to be playing a lead role in this pioneering project. As power constraints become more pronounced and renewable energy adoption continues to accelerate, we believe the use of our vanadium flow batteries in new data centres will feel inevitable, not like an exception.