Your data center pays for attic insulation and a heat pump in each participating home (outlined in gold).
Added: a battery at each participating home.
Added: solar panels on the participating roofs.
Added: an islanding switch. In an outage, the battery homes power their neighbors.
Choose the layers that fit your site and community.
Community energy programs for data centers
Your data center needs community approval.
Win it by investing directly in the homes around your site. Unlike a pledge or a fund, each upgrade shows up on the household's own electric bill, month after month.
See what your investment pays forHome efficiency programs
Lower your neighbors' demand.Lower their bills.
Pay for attic insulation and heat pumps in nearby homes. Each participating home needs less electricity to heat and cool, so residents buy less power and the local system carries less peak demand.
Program designerDesign your end-to-end rebate program and clearing housePick an area, choose upgrades and see what your budget creates.Case study: what $10M buys in Mitchell County, Texas →New Jersey is building this into data center tariffs.
Under the Data Center Fair Share Act, a voluntary demand-reduction trade program lets data centers fund verified demand reductions by other customers and receive the resulting capacity value. The Board of Public Utilities is now gathering input on the rules, including priority interconnection for data centers that take part. WattShed documents each verified upgrade so your program is ready to be evaluated. Paying for upgrades does not guarantee approval, interconnection or capacity credit.
NJ BPU request for information, Data Center Fair Share ActSolar and storage programs
Give homes backup.Contract for battery flexibility.
Pay for a battery in each participating home. Households keep an agreed backup reserve, and an operating partner can dispatch the rest under the program's terms.
New Jersey names home batteries as a measure data centers can fund.
The same demand-reduction trade program lists behind-the-meter energy storage alongside energy efficiency and demand response. A battery's shared capacity can lower peak demand when the local system needs it most. Who owns each battery, who can dispatch it and the reserve each household keeps are set in the program agreement.
NJ BPU request for information, Data Center Fair Share ActSolar and storage programs
Put solar onneighboring roofs.
Participating homes generate electricity on their own roofs instead of buying all of it from the grid. Their batteries store part of that generation for the evening.
State incentives can stretch your budget.
In California, the Self-Generation Incentive Program includes solar and storage support for eligible low-income households. Where a program like this applies, it can cover part of each system, so your investment reaches more homes. Who owns each system and who receives any export payments are set in the program agreement. Eligibility depends on the program rules in force.
CPUC Self-Generation Incentive ProgramCommunity resilience projects
Keep the neighborhood onthrough an outage.
During an outage, an islanding switch on the existing line separates the neighborhood from the wider grid. Solar and batteries in the participating homes keep power flowing to the homes around them, including homes without a battery.
California funds community microgrids like this.
California's Microgrid Incentive Program supports qualifying community microgrids, with a focus on vulnerable communities and critical needs. A neighborhood that stays on in an outage is a benefit every resident sees. Each microgrid is engineered before it is built: which loads stay on and for how long, protection settings and the utility's interconnection agreement.
CPUC microgrids and resiliencyYour community energy program
Design the programaround your site.
Start with efficiency, then add storage, solar or community resilience where they fit local needs. A first conversation covers your site's location, its development stage and the outcomes you want for the community.
Discuss your site