Climavision offers expanded weather forecasting to data centers — SkimNews
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- Climavision opened its network of 31 radars in 15 states to data centers on Sept. 10, expanding its subscription service beyond utilities, power producers, and government agencies.
- CEO Chris Goode said the company's radars fill gaps in NEXRAD coverage — federal monitors' beams reach over 10,000 feet, missing substantial weather activity between that altitude and the ground.
- The service can help data centers avoid grid curtailment by triggering on-site generation, storage, demand response, or fuel-switching when weather strains grid capacity.
- Climavision combines its radar data with public datasets, commercial sources, and customer sensors to produce 'high-resolution forecasts for specific wind farms, substations or campuses rather than regional averages.'
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory research found better solar forecasts produce a 30% reduction in spare capacity utilities hold to account for forecast errors.
- Climavision has worked with CenterPoint Energy since Winter Storm Uri in 2021, including through Winter Storm Fern in January.
- The 15-state radar footprint covers portions of the PJM Interconnection (Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee) plus Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi — states where Meta, OpenAI, and Amazon are investing billions for data centers.
Why it matters: Data centers are being asked to manage their own generation, storage, and demand response like utilities. Climavision's gap-filling radar network — spanning PJM states and the Gulf South where Meta, OpenAI, and Amazon are spending billions on campuses — gives operators a tool to avoid curtailment when weather tightens the grid, while Lawrence Berkeley research shows better solar forecasts alone cut spare capacity needs by 30%.
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