DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show Bonus episode - An energy OS for data centers with Drew Barrett, Zendo Energy
Sep 29, 2025
Drew Barrett, COO and co-founder of Zendo Energy, shares insights from his extensive 13-year career at Octopus Energy. He discusses Zendo's innovative Energy OS, designed to optimize energy procurement for data centers. Key topics include real-time signals to suppliers for better trading, the impact of AI workloads on energy demand, and strategies to unlock stranded capacity for significant savings. Drew emphasizes the importance of local renewable integration and the need for technological advancements to manage market volatility, aiming to help data centers turn energy into a competitive advantage.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Send Real-Time Signals To Suppliers
- Measure and share real-time signals because you cannot manage what you cannot measure.
- Send live forecasts to suppliers so trading and hedging adapt to actual behind-the-meter generation and reduce contract risk premiums.
Colo Operators Need Tenant Visibility
- Colocation operators lack visibility into tenant compute behaviour yet make procurement decisions for the site.
- Surfacing tenant-level insights lets operators optimize energy procurement and utilization.
Stranded Capacity Is A Hidden Asset
- 'Stranded capacity' is underused grid or rack capacity that operators struggle to monetise under strict SLAs.
- Improving utilization by shifting flexible workloads reduces the need to build more capacity and lowers carbon.