Insight · November 1, 2026
Bring 80, ask for 20: how behind-the-meter supply reshapes large-load studies
When a large-load customer brings its own supply and flexibility, the grid request, and the upgrades it triggers, can shrink dramatically.
Picture a customer who asks the utility for 100 MW. Studied at that number, the request may trigger substation upgrades, reconductoring and a long wait. Now picture the same customer arriving with 80 MW of its own supply and flexibility. The question changes from “how do we deliver 100 MW?” to “how do we deliver 20?”
That is the core idea behind engaging large-load customers early.
Timing is everything
Most large-load customers reach the utility after their design is largely done. By then the site, load profile and schedule are fixed. If the grid cannot deliver in time, the fallback is often on-site natural gas generation, a long-lived decision made under schedule pressure.
Reaching customers at the concept stage, alongside the utility’s design assistance, keeps more options open.
The behind-the-meter menu
- Solar sized to the site and to available hosting capacity
- Battery storage to shave peaks and support phased energization
- Thermal and ice storage to shift cooling load
- Flexible data-center load management to reduce firm capacity needs at grid peak
- Containerized solar-plus-storage for fast, modular deployment
- Microgrid-ready designs for backup and future growth
Each option changes the inputs to the large-load study. Together they can change the outcome.
Studied at peak, operated below it
Data centers are often studied at full peak demand, while average utilization runs well below that peak. Flexible load and storage can lift utilization of the capacity that is built, and reduce how much needs to be requested in the first place.
Use the capacity that already exists
Distribution grids frequently have unused capacity in the hours that matter. An August 2026 study by Kevala found that front-of-meter solar and storage could serve roughly 17.5 GW of local load on California investor-owned utility substations between 4 and 9 p.m. in summer, without exporting power back onto the transmission system (Kevala, Grid Capacity to Serve Local Load).
The lesson travels beyond California: sizing projects to existing distribution hosting capacity can avoid substation upgrades and reconductoring, and get customers energized sooner.
What this means for utilities
Give large-load customers the options early, and the request that reaches the study can be smaller, faster and cheaper for everyone.
A clear onboarding packet, an early design review and a tariff-aware set of self-supply scenarios are simple tools. Used early, they can shift a customer from “100 MW, now” to a phased, right-sized plan the grid can actually serve.