FERC opens review of AI data‑centre grid impacts after researchers warn of blackout risk

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said on April 16 that it will act by June on a rulemaking for how very large new electricity users, including data centers, connect to the transmission grid. The move brings a federal regulator deeper into a part of the power system long shaped by utilities, states and regional grid operators. It also comes days after the North American Electric Reliability Corp. issued a Level 3 alert warning that fast-changing “computational loads” can threaten bulk-power reliability. Together, the filings show how AI-driven data-center growth has shifted from a planning issue to a grid-operations issue. ### Why is FERC involved now? FERC said in Docket No. RM26-4-000 that the proceeding will consider reforms to ensure the “timely, orderly, and equitable integration” of significant electrical loads into transmission infrastructure. Chairman Laura V. Swett said the commission was responding to rapid growth in demand from data centers and other large-scale consumers. (ferc.gov) October 2025 is when the current proceeding began, after the U.S. Energy secretary directed FERC to consider a broader federal role over large-load interconnections. Engineering News-Record reported that the proposal covers loads above 20 megawatts and has drawn objections from states and utilities that say retail interconnections have historically been their domain. (ferc.gov) ### What changed after the PJM fight over co-located data centers? December 18, 2025, is when FERC separately ordered PJM Interconnection to write clearer rules for AI-driven data centers and other large loads co-located with power plants. FERC said PJM’s tariff was “unjust and unreasonable” because it lacked clear and consistent terms for those arrangements. (enr.com) PJM serves more than 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia, according to FERC’s order. The commission said the new rules were meant to protect reliability and consumers while giving transmission customers options to manage energy withdrawals for co-located load. (ferc.gov) ### What blackout risk are researchers and reliability officials pointing to? NERC said on May 4 that it had observed customer-initiated large-load reductions and oscillations occurring in seconds, leaving little or no time for real-time response. The alert applies to “computational loads,” including data centers and facilities with co-located generation, and requires registered entities to take seven essential actions. (ferc.gov) A July 10, 2024 disturbance in the Eastern Interconnection has become the clearest example cited by reliability officials. NERC’s incident review said a fault on a 230-kilovolt transmission line triggered the simultaneous loss of about 1,500 megawatts of voltage-sensitive load, all of it “data center-type load,” causing frequency and voltage to rise and forcing emergency adjustments to avoid wider problems. (nerc.com) Harvard’s Belfer Center said in a February 10 policy brief that the same northern Virginia event involved 60 data centers disconnecting at once. The authors wrote that the incident showed how concentrated hyperscale load can create reliability risks if operators do not understand how those facilities behave during voltage disturbances. (nerc.com) ### How big could data-center electricity demand get? Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s forecast, cited by the Belfer Center, put U.S. data-center electricity use at 176 terawatt-hours in 2023, or about 4.4% of total consumption. The same forecast projects 325 to 580 terawatt-hours by 2028, or 6.7% to 12.0% of U.S. electricity use. (belfercenter.org) Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative told PJM that its data-center summer peak load could rise from roughly 1,050 megawatts in 2024 to nearly 5,900 megawatts in 2029. NOVEC said more than 100 data-center buildings in its territory were expected to drive that growth. ### What will regulators and grid operators do next? (belfercenter.org) August 3, 2026, is the deadline for registered entities to respond to NERC’s Level 3 alert and describe how they will address the required actions. NERC said the alert was paired with a new voluntary reliability guideline focused on modeling, studies, commissioning, operations, protection and control for large loads. (pjm.com) June 2026 is when FERC has said it will act on RM26-4-000. The commission has already reviewed more than 3,500 pages of comments, according to its April 16 release, and the outcome will determine how far federal oversight extends over the next wave of AI-linked data-center connections. (ferc.gov) (nerc.com)