Engineers Explore Powering Data Centers with Onsite Energy in NCCETC’s Energy Insights Webinar Series
On March 5, 2026, the NC Clean Energy Technology Center’s Clean Power and Industrial Efficiency (CPIE) team led the Continuous Onsite Energy Generation for Data Centers webinar. This webinar is part of NCCETC’s quarterly Energy Insights Webinar Series, an initiative to promote Center-wide services that contribute to the advancement of a sustainable energy economy.
Presented in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) Southeast Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnership (TAP), this webinar explored how onsite energy generation is an important tool for meeting new data center energy needs. As data center demands grow, onsite energy is essential for ensuring reliable, predictable power, especially in regions where grid capacity is constrained.
Senior Policy Analyst at NCCETC, Justin Lindemann, gave a brief overview of the work NCCETC does and introduced the webinar speakers. Featured speakers included Principal Mechanical Engineer at Spectrum Engineers, Vinnie Figlioli; Co-Chief Executive Officer at Joule Power, David Gray; and Associate Director of Technical Services at NCCETC & Director of the DOE Southeast Onsite Energy TAP, Isaac Panzarella.
Following the introductions, Panzarella discussed the DOE’s Onsite Energy Program, which provides technical assistance, market analysis, and best practices intended to help industrial facilities and other large energy users increase the adoption of onsite energy technologies. Onsite energy technologies include battery storage, combined heat and power (CHP), district energy, fuel cells, geothermal, industrial heat pumps, renewable fuels, solar photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal, thermal storage, waste heat to power, and wind.
Panzarella says, “Onsite energy can offer significant cost savings compared to grid power.” It supports energy security and performance goals, while also ensuring uptime redundancy and reliability. He then presented a table that represented the benefits of onsite energy generation for data centers. The left column shows the various technologies, with the rest of the table indicating the attributes that would result from each type of technology.
The North Carolina Energy Policy Task Force recently published an interim report in February 2026 that outlined recommendations on how to manage increasing electricity demand while maintaining adequate, reliable, affordable, and clean electricity for the state. As of February 2026, 128 data center projects are planned, with 37 gigawatts of expected demand. Panzarella discussed the projected increase in average monthly electricity bills for residents in North Carolina, emphasizing the need to maximize the use of options such as onsite energy for data centers to keep energy affordable.
Vinnie Figlioli then addressed webinar attendees to begin discussing Joule Power’s new Data Center Campus in Central Utah, saying it came down to “a tale of two grids.” David Gray dove into how they evaluated various power sources for the new data center. For the electric grid, they found that capacity was constrained in their region. Time of day constraints, voltage ride through minimums, and capacity ride through minimums were all obstacles to utilizing the electric grid as a primary source.
Figlioli said the other grid they considered was the molecular grid, or natural gas. He discussed the different viewpoints they held while assessing this method, the first being distribution. After ruling distribution out, they considered transmission. At their site, they have access to two large pipelines. These pipelines have high capacity, no odorant, low regulation, and redundant lines to the site from multiple fuel providers, making transmission a viable option.
David Gray then explained how they considered turbines, reciprocating motors, and fuel cells as methods for molecular converting. They settled on reciprocating motors, which have low pressure, moderate elevation derate, low failure domain, and a high availability of skilled labor. Other sources of energy that Joule evaluated for the new site included pipelines, pressure changes, heat, absence of heat, different cycles, and storage. Gray says that in the future they will certainly have other technologies that they add into the mix.
Rendering of Joule Power’s Data Center Campus in Central Utah.
He notes, “What’s interesting about doing onsite generation next to a load, for every megawatt we put into the building, we have to figure out how to take that megawatt out of the building. We’re really just moving energy around, we’re not creating, destroying, or utilizing energy, we’re just transferring it.” Figlioli adds, “There are some great things we can do when you start to combine your heat and your power sources.”
Following the presentations, attendees had the chance to submit their questions to the presenters. When asked about community engagement and the involvement of local officials and citizens, Gray says they made the decision to put their facility “in a place where it was welcome and where the community wanted it to be.” He says this isn’t the case everywhere, but in this case, neighbors of the site are miles away, not yards away. Regarding water usage, Figlioli says they’ve looked at closed loop systems that reduce water usage, given that Utah is one of the “driest” states in the country. He says the water consumption for this site will be significantly less than it is for farming in that area. They’re also looking at technologies that generate water, and those that don’t use water at all. Figlioli says this helps as well when garnering community support.
Another attendee asked if Joule had looked into pairing renewable energy sources with solar. Gray responded that they share a fence with an 1100 acre solar farm, with about 15,000 acres of solar leases that are not yet fully built. He says, “they will absolutely be part of our solution. In the design that we built with our generator and grid forming BES, there is a renewables port on the switchgear. We also have a large geothermal field that we look forward to interconnecting. We take joules from anywhere we can get them.”
Lindemann then transitioned to the final part of the webinar, where he discussed the Database of Emerging Large-Load Tariffs (DELTa). Created by the Smart Electric Power Alliance and NCCETC, DELTa offers a publicly available interactive map and downloadable database of large-load tariffs and utility service rules. The database is updated quarterly and also includes case summaries and analyses of approved and proposed tariffs. As of November 2025, the database represents 33 states along with 65 tariffs and service rules, and 57 electric utilities. Explore the database here.
The next webinar in the Energy Insights Webinar Series will be held by NCCETC’s Clean Transportation team. The Q3 webinar, “Planning for a Sustainable Fleet”, will take place on June 23, 2026, at 2:00pm. In this webinar, NCCETC and Leke Fleet Services will discuss the steps it takes to plan for a sustainable fleet including technology considerations, data collection, and the involvement of key-decision makers.
Visit NCCETC’s Energy Services page for more information about previous and upcoming webinars.