One fallen power line exposed a growing AI data center problem. Here’s how to fix it. — SkimNews
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- PJM Interconnection grid voltage spiked from Northern Virginia to Chicago after a single downed power line caused 3.1 gigawatts of data center load to vanish within 30 seconds; lights flickered across the region but no blackout occurred.
- The disconnected data centers represented roughly 3% of total PJM demand at the time (3.49 GW peak surplus), illustrating how rapidly concentrated load drops destabilize a grid that requires near-perfect supply-demand balance.
- This week's event was twice as large as a 2024 incident that pulled 1.5 GW from PJM when 60 data centers simultaneously disconnected; data centers are projected to grow from 6% to 24% of PJM's load by 2040, per Synapse Energy Economics.
- ON.Energy is installing 3 gigawatts of battery-backed uninterruptible power supply systems across four data center campuses, hiding each facility behind a bank of batteries so the grid sees one consistent load and can absorb fluctuations in milliseconds.
- ERCOT will require large loads like data centers to "ride through" grid disruptions, according to ON.Energy CTO Ricardo de Azevedo, who called this week's event a "canary in the coal mine."
Why it matters: With data centers projected to reach 24% of PJM's load by 2040 (up from 6%), this week's 3.49 GW load drop — double the 2024 incident — gives grid operators a narrowing window to mandate ride-through standards before the next larger event exposes the same gap at higher cost to the 67 million customers on PJM.
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