One fallen power line exposed a growing AI data center problem. Here’s how to fix it.
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- A downed power line outside Washington, DC caused about 3.1 gigawatts of data center load to vanish from the PJM grid in roughly 30 seconds as facilities simultaneously switched to backup power, with the grid taking more than 10 minutes to recover and another 11 minutes to fully stabilize.
- The PJM Interconnection saw voltage spike from Northern Virginia to Chicago, causing lights to flicker across the region but no blackout; the disconnected data centers represented around 3% of PJM's total demand at the time, per Reuters data cited in the article.
- The 2024 incident saw 60 data centers disconnect and pull 1.5 GW from the same grid; this week's mass disconnection was twice as large, and PJM data center load is projected to grow from roughly 6% in 2024 to 24% by 2040, per Synapse Energy Economics.
- ON.Energy is installing 3 gigawatts worth of its battery-based uninterruptible power supply systems across four data center campuses, designed to present a single stable load to the grid and absorb fluctuations rather than disconnect, according to CTO Ricardo de Azevedo.
- ERCOT is preparing rules that would require large loads like data centers to "ride through" disruptions rather than disconnect en masse, per ON.Energy's de Azevedo.
- Northern Virginia hosts the highest concentration of data centers in the world, and PJM serves 67 million customers from New Jersey to Illinois as the largest grid operator in the United States.
Why it matters: Data center load on PJM is projected to quadruple from ~6% to 24% by 2040, meaning even small coordination failures scale into major grid instability threats — this week's disconnect was already twice as large as a 2024 incident. ERCOT is moving to mandate ride-through capabilities, and ON.Energy is deploying 3 GW of battery-buffered systems at four campuses to keep data centers behaving as a single stable load rather than pulling the rug out on the grid.
