As a brutal heat wave hits much of the central and eastern United States this week, the Department of Energy wants power-hungry data centers to help ease the strain on the grid.
The Energy Department issued an emergency order earlier this week allowing PJM, the grid operator for 13 states and Washington, D.C., to require data centers and other large customers to use their own backup power.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright authorized PJM to direct heavy power users to rely on their own backup generation as a last resort before potential blackouts.
“Maintaining affordable, reliable, and secure power in the PJM service territory is non-negotiable,” said Wright in a press release.
The department estimates there are more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation available nationwide, enough to power roughly 26 million homes.
The order comes as the National Weather Service has warned that a heat wave will hit states across the U.S. through the July 4 weekend, with temperatures ranging from 95 to 105 degrees. As millions of people crank up their air conditioners to stay cool, the power grid is expected to be pushed to its limits.
It also arrives as the AI boom has led to a wave of data center projects across the country. These facilities require massive amounts of electricity to power and cool the servers used to train and run AI models, cloud computing, and other digital services.
PJM is what is known as a regional transmission organization. These organizations are often described as the “air traffic controllers” of the power grid. They usually do not own power plants or power lines, but they help balance supply and demand, operate wholesale power markets, and coordinate grid planning across large regions.
PJM covers several mid-Atlantic states, including Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers.
The New York Times pointed out that some experts are concerned that the facilities’ backup generators, which often run on diesel or natural gas, could increase air pollution in nearby communities.
PJM applied for the emergency authorization last weekend in anticipation of the heat wave. The grid operator told Gizmodo that the order allows PJM to direct local utilities to order data centers and other large-load customers to use backup power only under specific emergency conditions. The order does not apply to customers serving critical needs like hospitals, 911 call centers, water treatment facilities, defense sites, or air traffic control facilities.
PJM has been granted similar authorization before during extreme hot and cold weather events, most recently during a May heat wave and Winter Storm Fern in January.
PJM says it has not had to use the directive so far.
Earlier this week, PJM said it expected electricity demand to peak on July 2 at about 166,147 MW, which could surpass its all-time summer record from 2006.
“Currently, there are tens of gigawatts of readily available backup generation that have remained largely untapped,” Wright said in the order, which is in effect until 11:59 p.m. on Friday. “Deployment of backup generation resources (whether auxiliary, standby, directly-connected, battery storage or other, and whether synchronized or not to the bulk power system) at data centers (including, but not limited to, hyperscaler facilities), and at other large load industrial and commercial customer sites, can prevent avoidable blackouts, thereby saving lives and reducing costs to the American people.”
The Energy Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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