power demand

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EPA Turns AI Power Demand Into a Fossil-Baseload Deregulation Test

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a final partial repeal of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuel power plants and paired it with a proposal to rescind remaining greenhouse-gas standards for the sector under Clean Air Act Section 111. EPA frames the action as an energy-abundance and cost-saving measure worth more than $300 billion, while major news reports say environmental groups expect legal challenges. The AI angle is not that EPA regulated AI directly, but that rising data-center and industrial load is becoming a justification for fossil-basaload deregulation.

Published Sep 15, 2026 Article · related

PJM Turns AI Data Centers Into Interruptible Grid Load

PJM’s proposed Interim Resource Adequacy Service framework would treat some new 50 MW-plus data centers and other large loads as curtailable unless they secure qualifying capacity. The move follows a 6,831 MW capacity shortfall for the 2028/2029 delivery year and rising forecasts for large-load demand across PJM’s footprint. The system read: AI compute is being recast from passive load growth into a reliability obligation.

Published Aug 19, 2026 Article · related

Texas Turns AI Data Centers Into a Grid-Admission Audit

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed PUCT and ERCOT on August 3, 2026 to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process before those projects move forward. The order lands amid roughly 474 gigawatts of large-load requests to connect to the Texas grid, with the governor’s office saying about 90% of new power requests are data centers. The move reframes AI-era data centers as strategic infrastructure applicants rather than ordinary load growth.

Published Aug 7, 2026