Data Center Oscillation Isolation and Grid Support: Fundamental Limits and Source-Selective Control

Overview & Synopsis

The grid integration of large data centers poses a growing power-system stability challenge. Rapidly varying computing demand can induce oscillations, while the facilities must provide a prescribed response to grid disturbances. Existing controls address load fluctuations and grid support but do not establish their jointly achievable performance. This paper derives fundamental limits and develops a source-selective controller for simultaneous oscillation isolation and grid support. A coupled closed-loop model gives a condition for distinguishing disturbance sources and reveals a direct isolation-support conflict under grid-import-power feedback alone; additional electrical measurements can remove this pointwise conflict but leave a conditional cross-frequency sensitivity limit. Guided by these limits, we design a local residual-feedback storage controller through convex frequency-domain optimization with stability, isolation, and grid-response constraints across operating points. Tests on a single-generator interconnection and a modified nine-bus network show stronger oscillation isolation than equal-order optimized comparators while meeting the prescribed grid response across operating points.