HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — With the explosive growth of Big Tech’s data centers threatening to overload U.S. electricity grids, policymakers are taking a hard look at a tough-love solution: bumping the energy-hungry data centers off grids during power emergencies.
That has elicited pushback from data centers and Big Tech, for whom a steady power supply is vital.
Like many other states, Texas wants to attract data centers as an economic boon, but it faces the challenge of meeting the huge volumes of electricity the centers demand.
Data centers might have to adjust Big Tech is trying to make their data centers more energy efficient.
The grid operator also should balance that system with financial rewards for data centers that voluntarily shut down during emergencies, said Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (AP) — Big Tech data centers are growing at an accelerated rate, endangering U.S. A. power grids, legislators are examining a tough-love solution: removing energy-intensive data centers from the grid in the event of a power outage.
Texas took the lead as state lawmakers work to shield locals in the data center hotspot from another catastrophic blackout, similar to the one that killed dozens during the winter of 2021.
As massive data centers come online more quickly than power plants can be constructed and connected to grids, the idea is now becoming more popular in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid and elsewhere. Data centers and Big Tech, who depend on a consistent power source, have reacted negatively to that.
Texas wants to draw data centers as an economic boost, like many other states, but it has trouble supplying the massive amounts of electricity that the centers require. In June, lawmakers passed a bill that, among other things, establishes guidelines for power outages that require large electric users to be disconnected by utilities.
In theory, that would save enough electricity to prevent a widespread blackout on the few days of the year when temperatures are at their highest or lowest and power usage strains or exceeds grid capacity.
Although Texas was the first, experts predict that it won’t be the last since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 sparked a global demand for chatbots and other generative AI products, which normally demand a lot of processing power to train and function.
“That type of thing is going to appear everywhere,” predicted Michael Weber, an energy-focused engineering professor at the University of Texas. Flexibility in data centers will be expected, necessary, encouraged, or required, in one form or another. “”.
Grids are under threat from data centers.
Grids are unable to handle the rapidly increasing number of data center projects that are taking place in Texas and possibly 20 other U.S. states. A. engages in a competition to outsmart China in artificial intelligence.
According to startling forecasts made by grid operators in Texas, the Great Plains states, and the mid-Atlantic region, data centers will be a major factor in the increase in electricity demand in the upcoming years.
The largest grid operator in the country, PJM Interconnection, which operates the mid-Atlantic grid that serves 65 million people and data-center hotspots in Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, has coming up with a proposal akin to Texas’.
In order to meet the increasing demand, the CEO of the Southwest Power Pool, which runs the grid that primarily serves 18 million people in Kansas, Oklahoma, and other Great Plains states, stated that the company has no option but to increase power-reduction programs, most likely for the largest power users.
The proposals come as the country’s electricity bills are rapidly increasing—by twice the rate of inflation, according to federal data—and there is mounting evidence that some average Americans’ bills are rising in order to support Big Tech’s enormous energy demands.
Power plant construction cannot keep up with the increasing demand for data centers, according to analysts, and something needs to change.
“Data center load has the potential to overwhelm the grid, and I think it is on its way to doing that,” said Joe Bowring, head of Monitoring Analytics, the independent market watchdog for the mid-Atlantic grid.
Data centers may need to make adjustments.
Energy efficiency is a goal for Big Tech’s data centers. In order to guarantee a continuous power supply in the event of a power outage, they are also installing backup generators, which are usually powered by diesel.
Operators of data centers, however, say they were not prepared for the necessity of that backup power source to assist grid operators in meeting demand, and they are closely monitoring the regulations that Texas utility regulators draft.
The Data Center Coalition, which advocates for data center developers and Big Tech companies, wants the standards to be flexible because some data centers might not be able to quickly or easily switch to backup power.
Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition stated that the grid operator should also strike a balance between that system and providing financial incentives to data centers that choose to shut down during emergencies.
The biggest grid operator in the country has a plan.
The idea behind PJM’s recently published proposal is that there may not be a guarantee that the proposed data centers will have electricity in the event of a power outage.
Power plant owners and the tech sector are upset about that.
Many questioned whether PJM had the legal right to enforce it or warned that it would cause energy markets to become unstable and states to scare off investors and developers by posing risks and uncertainty.
This is especially troubling because states in PJM’s footprint are in direct competition with other U.S. S. . areas for investment in data centers and digital infrastructure,” the Digital Power Network, a consortium of data center developers and Bitcoin miners, stated in written remarks to PJM.
The governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Illinois expressed concern that it is too erratic to offer a long-term fix and that incentives for data centers to construct new power sources and voluntarily cut back on electricity use should at the very least be included.
Others, such as consumer advocates, cautioned that it won’t reduce electricity costs and suggested that PJM should instead implement a “bring your own generation” rule that would require data centers to essentially construct their own power supply.
A deal is cloaked in mystery.
Google opted for a voluntary approach in Indiana.
Google and Michigan Power, the electric utility, filed a power-supply contract with Indiana regulators last month for a proposed $2 billion data center in Fort Wayne. Google agreed to use less electricity there during times of grid stress. By postponing non-urgent tasks until the electric grid is less stressed, the data center would reportedly save electricity consumption.
However, Ben Inskeep of the Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer advocacy group, stated that it is unclear how valuable the arrangement is, if at all, because crucial details are being kept secret.
An alternative perspective on electricity.
Removing large users from the grid during times of high demand is a novel approach to electricity.
Regular ratepayers may benefit financially because power costs are highest during periods of high usage.
According to Johns Hopkins University energy researcher Abe Silverman, data centers can and do use as much electricity as they like on most days.
However, he said that removing data centers from the grid for a few hours during the coldest or hottest temperatures would save billions of dollars on building a number of power plants.
Silverman posed the question, “And the question is, is that worth it? Is it worth it for society to build those ten new power plants just to serve the data centers five hours a year?”. Or is there a more effective method?
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