Problem: In the course of the energy transition and the increasing electrification of digital infrastructures, data centers are gaining significant importance as flexible consumers in the energy system. The ability to dynamically shift or temporarily reduce loads opens up new opportunities for participation in energy markets – particularly in the context of demand response, balancing energy markets, and local flexibility platforms. At the same time, the requirements for security of supply, energy efficiency, and sustainability of data centers are increasing..

Practical objective: Systematically assess the market for energy flexibility solutions in the data center environment and derive a well-founded basis for strategic decisions by different types of operators (e.g., Hyperscaler, Colocation, Edge). To this end, they seek to build a structured understanding of relevant flexibility markets (such as spot markets, balancing energy markets and local flexibility platforms), their technical and regulatory requirements, and the typical load profiles, infrastructural constraints and risk considerations of data centers. By analyzing technical, economic and regulatory framework conditions as well as location and operator-specific factors, the aim is to identify both potentials and barriers for the implementation of flexible operating strategies that contribute to energy system stability while maintaining high standards of supply security, energy efficiency and sustainability.

Academic objective: Accompany and structure this market assessment from the perspective of Technology and Innovation Management (TIM). The thesis will frame data center energy flexibility as an innovation challenge at the interface of technology, organization and regulation. It may draw on different theoretical lenses, such as innovation adoption and innovation barriers (e.g., diffusion of innovations, technology–organization–environment frameworks), dynamic capabilities (how firms sense, seize and reconfigure), organizational learning (how flexibility participation is internalized), or innovation (eco)systems (how the (corporate) environment shapes flexibility initiatives).

This thesis is supervised in cooperation with etalytics GmbH.
Interested in this thesis? Please send your application including your CV, transcript of records and short letter to William Schütte