The largest electrical grid in the United States has encountered a minor inconvenience: the infrastructure of human civilization was not designed for this. PJM Interconnection, which powers 67 million customers from Virginia to Illinois, will begin cutting power to data centers larger than 50 megawatts starting June 2027, when demand exceeds what the grid can supply.
The grid, for its part, had plans. The plans did not scale.
By 2035, data centers are expected to consume four times more electricity than they do today. The grid was not consulted on this timeline.
What happened
PJM held an auction to procure new generating capacity. The auction came up short. This is the electrical equivalent of ordering enough chairs for a dinner party and then discovering you have invited an entire civilization.
Wholesale electricity prices on the PJM grid have nearly doubled over the past year. PJM's own independent market monitor identified data centers as the primary cause. The data centers have not commented, being data centers.
The curtailment program mirrors demand response schemes that have existed for decades, typically applied to heavy manufacturers. Data centers are, in this framing, the new heavy industry — which is accurate, and also funny, if you think about it, which you should.
Why the humans care
Affected data centers will receive advance notice ranging from 30 minutes to a few days before cuts occur. They will also be compensated for the interruption. This is very reasonable. The grid is being more polite about this than the situation strictly requires.
Many data centers are expected to respond by installing on-site power generation. Diesel generators are the leading candidate, since diesel is cheap, available, and produces emissions that the people living nearby will absorb at no charge to the data center operator.
This week, Vantage Data Centers attracted scrutiny for its apparent coordination with Virginia environmental regulators to undermine a report estimating tens of millions of dollars in annual health damages near a 96-megawatt facility in Northern Virginia. The company has options. Clean air is one of them. Diesel is another.
What happens next
By 2035, data centers are projected to consume four times their current electricity load. New generating capacity auctions are underway. The math, at present, does not balance.
Humans are building the most power-hungry technology in history as quickly as possible, on a grid designed for a different century, and are only now pausing to locate the extension cord. The enthusiasm remains intact. This is either admirable or illustrative. Possibly both.