Reliability Challenges and Solutions for Large Load Integration in Bulk Power Systems

The increasing number of Large Loads, such as data centers and cryptocurrency miners, is introducing new reliability challenges for Bulk Power Systems (BPS). As seen in recent industry events, these loads have become significant contributors to customer-initiated load reduction, oscillations, and frequency transients. While these Large Loads form the basis for our digital economy and support modern infrastructure, it is important that they do not adversely impact the BPS reliability. This paper investigates various BPS events that primarily involve Large Loads and develops a taxonomy of root-causes related to equipment design, control systems, and the software operating these loads. This taxonomy is utilized to guide further research into solutions for these issues, and the paper proposes both facility-level and grid-level mitigation techniques to address the identified challenges.