The White House is moving to stabilize the United States' largest power grid by pushing for an emergency energy auction, as surging demand from data centers threatens to outpace the nation’s electricity generation capacity.
According to reports from U.S. News, the Biden administration is urging PJM Interconnection—which serves the Mid-Atlantic region—to take immediate steps to prevent rolling blackouts. The move comes amid growing concerns over rising electricity prices and grid reliability as energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) hubs and data centers rapidly expand across the region.
Data Centers Under Scrutiny The White House initiative includes a proposal to require large-scale data centers to provide their own backup power generation or face potential supply curtailments during peak demand periods. Furthermore, the administration is considering a mandate that would force these tech hubs to fund the construction of dedicated new power plants rather than relying solely on the existing public grid.
U.S. officials and state governors are currently discussing a massive $15 billion investment plan to accelerate the development of new generation facilities. This plan aims to address criticism that the current grid expansion is moving too slowly to accommodate the "AI boom."
Capping Record Price Surges In addition to ensuring reliability, the administration is seeking to curb the sharp spike in consumer costs. Recent capacity auctions saw record-breaking price jumps, which have started to filter down to residential and business bills. The White House is pushing for new price caps within PJM’s capacity market to protect consumers from extreme market volatility.
"The pace of demand is simply outstripping our ability to build," one official noted, highlighting that the focus is now on streamlining state-supported generation projects and integrating them into the grid faster than ever before.
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