The exponential growth of data center energy demand, particularly driven by advancements in Artificial Intelligence, has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges for energy infrastructure globally. Between 2023 and 2030, global data center power consumption is projected to increase by 160%, pushing data centers to account for up to 8% of total U.S. electricity demand.

However, existing grid infrastructure is increasingly constrained, particularly in regions with concentrated data center activity. Transmission bottlenecks, aging infrastructure, and long timelines for grid upgrades present significant challenges for meeting this explosive demand.

While Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are not yet commercially available, a two-stage, multi-year approach can provide an effective pathway from available DER to SMR.

In this paper, we demonstrate the benefits of this multi-year approach through real-world data center examples in Santa Clara, California and Ashburn, Virginia. The same real data center profile is used in each example to compare the benefit of DERs and SMRs in very different regions.