c/technology · by sanitation@lemmy.today · 9d

US grid operator PJM proposes forcing data center off the grid during emergencies

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pjm-proposes-plan-buy-more-power-data-centers-2026-08-13/

116 points · 10 comments · view on lemmy.world

10 Comments

buttmasterflex@piefed.social · 27 pts · 9d

And the monkey's paw will be they have late capacity gas turbines to generate electricity that will continue to spew greenhouse gases.

ProfessorScience@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 9d

Sounds good! And the emergency is that there are too many data centers on the grid.

Greyghoster@aussie.zone · 8 pts · 8d

Isn’t this just common practice? It’s called load shedding.

_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 9d

This sounds insanely reasonable.

YetAnotherNerd@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 9d (1 reply)

And I’m sure Texas will be “come on down, y’all. Ted Cruz already knows which planes go to Cancun”

SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d

Texas, with the famously stable grid

stefenauris@pawb.social · 6 pts · 9d

That's a great idea!

Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 9d

Fuck yeah!

frongt@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 8d (1 reply)

PJM Interconnection, the ‌biggest U.S. grid operator, proposed on Thursday a new framework that would force data centers to use back-up generators when electricity supply on the grid approaches dangerously low levels.

Yeah that's not better. Not to mention, how do we know if the datacenter is just hosting AI garbage, or your local hospital's servers?

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 8d

That hospital bit sounds like an exploitable loophole:

"A percentage of our data here is critical hospital infrastructure, so we are exempt from the power grid limitations!"

(0.02% of data considered "critical")