Biggest Power Grid Operator Says Data Centers Leave ‘Little Room for Error’

America's largest power grid operator has warned that surging electricity demand from data centers is contributing to an environment that leaves the system with “little room for error.” David Souder, executive director of system operations at PJM Interconnection—which coordinates electricity across all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia—said year-round demand from data centers, combined with unusually warm or cold weather arriving earlier and staying later, is eroding the lower-demand periods traditionally used to prepare the grid for summer and winter. Souder said Thursday that spring and fall have typically provided windows of lower electricity demand, opening up an opportunity for generators and transmission lines to be taken offline for maintenance and upgrades. That’s in part because the profile of our customers is changing,” Souder said.

Souder’s statement comes amid growing political backlash over the data centers needed to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Their proliferation has become a political flashpoint ahead of November’s midterm elections, with residents and lawmakers voicing concerns over the facilities' potential electricity and water consumption, and environmental impacts. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order to reduce the risk of blackouts across PJM’s territory “to mitigate blackout risks in the mid-Atlantic ahead of a period of elevated demand, a high rate of planned generator outages during the autumn maintenance season, and numerous planned transmission outages.” Several similar orders had been issued this year, PJM said.

The order directed PJM to bring specified power-generating units online when needed to maintain reliable supply. PJM told Newsweek it proposed the Interim Resource Adequacy Service “to address the growing electricity reliability challenge where electricity demand is increasing faster than new generation is coming online. Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.