U.S. orders backup power use to avert heat wave blackouts
Federal regulators told PJM to tap idle generators at data centers to keep a Mid-Atlantic heat wave from causing blackouts. The move tests who pays for a hotter, data-heavy grid.
Federal energy officials ordered PJM Interconnection to tap backup generators at data centers and other major facilities during a Mid-Atlantic heat wave, using an emergency power provision to steady a grid stretched by soaring demand and maintenance outages. The May 18 order, issued under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, followed PJM’s request the day before and was set to run through May 20.
More than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation remain available nationwide, the Department of Energy says, and in February the department issued three emergency orders to keep Florida from blackouts during unusually cold weather. Outages cost Americans about $44 billion a year.
The order lands in the middle of a national fight over who carries the cost of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. On March 4, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, agreeing to build, bring or buy new generation resources, pay for needed power-delivery upgrades and coordinate with grid operators so backup generation can be used in emergencies. The pledge is meant to prevent electricity price hikes for households as data-center demand rises. In January, Energy Secretary Chris Wright had already asked grid operators to be ready to make backup power available at data centers and other major facilities.
The pressure is clearest in Virginia, now the center of the nation’s data-center buildout. State regulators there have permitted more than 8,000 diesel generators at data centers in recent years, and the emergency order could allow some of those units to run beyond normal emissions limits. The National Weather Service projected heat index readings of 110 degrees in Philadelphia and 112 degrees in Washington during the event, while PJM, whose territory runs from Washington to Chicago, had recently updated emergency procedures to account for data-center growth.
PJM had already urged consumers to curb electricity use before turning to backup power. Aaron Tinjum, vice president of energy for the Data Center Coalition, said facilities in the region would work with utilities and grid operators and use backup power if directed and appropriate.
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