Data Center Knowledge examines the evolving role of battery energy storage systems in data center operations, as operators move beyond using batteries purely for backup power toward additional applications including peak demand management, grid services, and on-site generation support. DataBank is featured prominently throughout the piece as a leading voice on both the opportunity and the constraints.

DataBank has deployed utility-scale BESS at several facilities, with two systems connected to a virtual power plant that helps utilities avoid building new generation resources while improving grid flexibility. The company’s Senior Director of Sustainability Jenny Gerson and VP of Engineering Eric Swartz are cited together, noting that energy storage technologies are becoming more mainstream and that utilities are increasingly relying on them.

“There’s no doubt that energy storage technologies are becoming more mainstream and utilities are relying on them more.”

— Jenny Gerson, Senior Director of Sustainability, and Eric Swartz, Vice President of Engineering, DataBank

DataBank identifies cost and physical footprint as the largest deployment constraints today, and notes that community opposition to large battery installations is an emerging challenge in some markets. The company’s approach remains requirement-driven: storage is deployed where it solves a specific operational need rather than treated as a standard infrastructure layer across every new facility.

The article also explores sodium-ion battery chemistry and simplified system architectures as potential paths to lower costs, alongside a broader industry discussion about whether cooling complexity or battery chemistry itself presents the greater economic challenge for large-scale deployments.

Read the full article at Data Center Knowledge.