Widely respected energy researcher Tyler Norris has joined Google's advanced energy team.

Norris spent the last two years as a J.B. Duke Fellow and PhD Student, Energy Systems, where he studied electric power systems, with a particular focus on data centers.

This past month, Norris was named one of Time's 100 most important climate leaders.

"The power sector is undergoing a transformation as rapid load growth, emerging technologies, and ambitious decarbonization goals all converge," Norris said.

"In this role, I’ll be focused on identifying and advancing innovations to better enable electricity markets to accommodate AI-driven demand and clean energy technologies.

"As I transition to the Bay Area, I'm excited to be joining a world-class team working at the frontier of energy innovation, and to collaborate with partners across the energy ecosystem. I'm also grateful that I can continue my PhD research and stay close to the research community."

This February, Norris published research showing that as much as 100GW of capacity could be unlocked on the grid if data centers were flexible with their power usage and cut back by as little as a day a year.

The research has been frequently cited, including by startups seeking to solve the data center grid crisis.

Google, meanwhile, has also looked to improve data center power flexibility, partnering with the utility Indiana Michigan Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority to cut usage during peak hours.

Norris will work with Google's advanced energy head, Michael Terrell, also on the Time 100 climate list.